Kidnapped YouTuber Who Paid $50,000 Ransom Is Still Unable to Leave Haiti
- Adisson Pierre Maalouf was kidnapped by Haiti gang members
- He is detained once again for ‘no reason’ after being released
Armed police officers monitor a street after gang violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on March 22.
Photographer: Clarens Siffroy/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
An American YouTube star who was kidnapped by a gang in Haiti for 17 days said he was freed after paying a ransom, but was then unable to leave the country because he was detained again.
Adisson Pierre Maalouf, who is known as “YourFellowArab” and has 1.4 million subscribers on YouTube, said he traveled to Haiti to interview gang leader Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Cherizier but was seized, along with his Haitian fixer, by a rival gang. It cost him about $50,000 in ransom and stolen equipment to secure his release.