Canadian vlogger accused of sedition in Trinidad
A Canadian YouTuber accused of sedition in Trinidad and Tobago has appeared in court and been ordered to surrender his passport.
Christopher Arthur Hughes, who runs the “Chris Must List” channel, is known for his videos exploring dangerous places around the world.
He was arrested on Thursday after publishing videos where he interviewed Trinidadian gang members critical of the government.
Hughes was charged under the country’s Sedition Act after officials became aware of the videos.
On Monday, a judge in a Port-of-Spain District Court set his bail at TT$100,000 (£11,709).
The Canadian government and Hughes’s attorney did not respond to requests for comment.
The investigation began after Hughes posted videos from Trinidad and Tobago on his YouTube page, which has 326,000 subscribers.
The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service stated that the videos featured “individuals professing to be gang members, advocating criminal activities, and using threatening language.”
Law enforcement sources told BBC News that police executed a search warrant at Hughes’s residence in west Trinidad, seizing cameras and a laptop.
Over the years, Hughes has built an online persona as a globe-trotting content creator, showcasing visits to “the most dangerous” areas in countries including Haiti, Kenya, and the United States.
The videos from Trinidad, which have since been deleted from his YouTube channel, appeared to show Hughes in areas labeled as “hot spots” by local authorities due to high crime rates.
He is seen or heard off-camera interviewing people in various Trinidadian communities, including a popular entertainer, a well-known senior police officer and schoolchildren.
Some videos appear to show Mr Hughes speaking with men in Trinidad and Tobago while they brandished handguns and assault rifles.
“Want to see toys?” one man says while showing the camera his high-capacity handgun in a video shared on the Chris Must List Instagram page. “For real. We don’t play out here.”
Prosecutors could recommend a summary trial, leaving the defendant some options. If he accepts that route, the matter would be decided by a magistrate. Mr Hughes could decide to have his case reviewed by the High Court, however, which would also bring stiffer penaltiies.
With a summary conviction, Mr Hughes could expect a fine of TT$3,000 or two years in prison. However, if he’s convicted in the High Court – the highest judicial body on the islands – he could face a TT$25,000 fine and five years in prison.
According to the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian newspaper, Mr Hughes has previously faced legal issues with authorities in Cuba and Somalia. The newspaper reports that he was deported from Cuba for flying a drone in Havana and deported from Somalia for throwing money at poor people.
In October 2023, the Privy Council in London, which is Trinidad and Tobago’s highest appeal court, dismissed an appeal challenging the constitutionality of sections of the former British colony’s Sedition Act.
Yasin Abu Bakr, who led a deadly 1990 attempt coup against the Caribbean nation’s government, was among several notable people to have been charged with sedition in Trinidad.
Bakr was charged in connection with comments he made during a sermon in 2005. Seven years later Bakr’s trial ended in a hung jury and a retrial was ordered. He died in October 2021, before a retrial could be held.
