Brazil: missionary nun murdered

An American nun honoured for her human rights work has been shot dead at an isolated jungle settlement in the Brazilian Amazon. Police said Sister Dorothy Stang, a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, was shot in the head several times by two gunmen in the state of Para. Sister Dorothy was over 70 and had lived in Brazil for more than 30 years. Throughout her career she received many death threats because of her work in protecting the people of the Amazon. She recently won an award from the Brazilian lawyers' association for her work in the Amazon region, while the state of Para named her woman of the year. The Brazilian cabinet, Environment Minister Marina Silva, compared Sister Dorothy's murder to the killing of trade union leader Chico Mendes, a campaigner for the rainforest whose death in 1988 sparked worldwide outrage. Human Rights Minister Nilmario Miranda said two suspects in the case had already been identified. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has sent ministers and police teams to the area to bring her killers to justice. Source:: MISNA/BBC