YouTube star YourFellowArab allegedly kidnapped in Haiti for $600,000 ransom while en route to meet gang leader Barbecue
Social media star YourFellowArab has been taken hostage in Haiti by one of the gangs that have become de facto leaders amid the violence that has ravaged the Caribbean island.
YourFellowArab, whose real name is Addison Pierre Maalouf, was on the island to interview the man popularly known as Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Cerisier, the most powerful gang leader in the country.
On March 14, Maalouf was taken by a gang known as the 400 Mawozo, led by kingpin Lanmo 100 jou, who is in the FBI. most wanted list. Maalouf is being held for a $600,000 ransom.
About $40,000 has been paid to the hostage takers so far, the report said Haiti24. A Haitian colleague was also taken.
Maalouf, of Lebanese descent, lives in Atlanta. On his official website, Maalouf calls himself a “comedian, professional actor and content creator… Man of the people.”
One of Maalouf’s colleagues, Twitch stream Lalem, confirmed in an X-post that his friend had been taken hostage. He ended the message on a positive note, saying, “He’ll be out soon.”
YourFellowArab, whose real name is Addison Pierre Maalouf, was on the island to interview the man popularly known as Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Cerisier, pictured here
Maalouf, seen here on his Instagram page, is based in Atlanta
Lalem reposted the last video Maalouf posted, showing him in Haiti. He tells viewers about the dangers of being in the country right now.
Maalouf said his crew had planned to travel to Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, but waited to depart in the early morning hours so they would arrive there in daylight.
“It only takes one stupid gang member holding an AK-47 for something to go wrong,” he tells his followers.
Lalem also asked those with Maalouf’s phone number not to text him for his own safety.
When Maalouf left for Haiti, he tweeted: ‘I’m going on another trip like this. If I die, thanks for watching what I released. If I live, all glory to God.”
The FBI is offering a $1 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Lanmo 100 you.
He is accused of kidnapping seventeen Christian missionaries in Haiti, including five children, one of whom was just eight months old in October 2021.
As a result of that crime, he is charged with conspiracy to commit hostage takings and kidnappings in the US.
The FBI is offering a $1 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Lanmo 100 jou, pictured here. He is believed to be behind YourFellowArab’s kidnapping
On Thursday, a UN rights expert for the conflict-affected Caribbean country said the country needs between 4,000 and 5,000 international police officers to tackle “catastrophic” gang violence targeting key individuals and hospitals, schools, banks and other critical institutions.
Last July, William O’Neill said Haiti needs between 1,000 and 2,000 international police officers trained to deal with gangs.
Today, he says the situation is so much worse that a doubling and more is needed to help the Haitian National Police regain control of security and curb human rights abuses.
O’Neill spoke at a press conference and launched a UN Human Rights Office report that he helped produce, calling for immediate action to address the “catastrophic” situation in Haiti, where corruption, impunity and poor governance, worsened by increasing gang violence, have eroded the rule of law and brought state institutions ‘to the brink of collapse’.
The report, which covers the five-month period ending in February, said gangs continued to recruit and abuse boys and girls, killing some children as they tried to escape.
Gangs also continue to use sexual violence “to brutalize, punish and control people,” the report said, citing women raped during gang attacks in neighborhoods, “in many cases after killing their husbands in front of their eyes.” had seen murdered.’
In 2023, the number of deaths and injuries caused by gang violence increased significantly – with 4,451 deaths and 1,668 injuries, the report said. And until March 22 this year, the number shot up to 1,554 deaths and 826 injuries.
As a result of escalating gang violence, so-called “self-defense brigades” have taken the law into their own hands, the report said, and “at least 528 cases of lynching were reported in 2023 and another 59 in 2024.”
A woman is comforted by others at a crime scene where the bodies of several people shot dead earlier this morning amid an escalation of gang violence were removed by ambulance in Port-au-Prince
Ezekiel Alexandre, alleged Baz Pilat gang leader, gathers with residents in the Carrefour Feuilles neighborhood, which was deserted due to gang violence
People burn garbage close to the bodies of the dead, while at least ten bodies of gang members lie in the streets after the gunfire between armed gangs in Petion-Ville
The human rights report reiterated the need for the urgent deployment of a multinational security mission to help Haitian police stop the violence and restore the rule of law.
And there were calls for stricter national and international controls to stem the trafficking of arms and ammunition to gangs and others – largely from the United States.
O’Neill, appointed by the Geneva-based UN human rights chief, said the “alarming” attacks on key institutions and individuals have started in the past four or five weeks – with 18 documented attacks on hospitals, attacks on schools, including one series of attacks . set on fire three days ago, and on Wednesday evening one of Haiti’s elite academic institutions was torched.
Gangs have also stormed Haiti’s two largest prisons.
In addition, he said, gangs have made two attempts to take control of the National Palace, targeting human rights defenders, journalists and people they view as a threat to their continued control of the territory.
Another new element documented by the UN human rights team in Haiti, says O’Neill, is the use of children not only as messengers, lookouts, sex slaves and cooks, but that young teenagers are now involved in unprecedented numbers in frontline activities and to attack. for.
The airport and road closures have left approximately 1.4 million Haitians on the brink of famine.
And the number of people fleeing their homes has risen from 50,000 last July to at least 362,000, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration. that,” the UN envoy said.
O’Neill said restoring security is critical, and getting international security forces on the ground in Haiti is critical and urgent.
Getting the presidential transition council officially installed and active is also “critical” and “absolutely essential,” O’Neill said, expressing hope that this could happen possibly next week.
For starters, Kenyan President William Ruto has said he will not deploy police to run the multinational security operation until he has a Haitian counterpart, the UN expert said.
O’Neill said the trust fund to finance the international police operation is also in urgent need of funding.
Haiti requested an international force to fight gangs in October 2022, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a force last July, he said.
“We are still waiting and every day lost means more people die, more women and girls are raped and more people flee their homes,” O’Neill said. “So the sooner the better.”