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In the midst of this human rights complaint, Alabi’s son committed suicide and his marriage crumbled.

When he asked for an adjournment, the tribunal coldly rejected his request.

It went ahead — and it went badly.

When we first told his story last year, it went viral and Alabi, 53, garnered support from around the world. It’s cold comfort when he remains cast as some kind of intolerant, anti-Muslim landlord — first by the tribunal and now by the court, when he insists he’s nothing of the kind.

For 15 years, Alabi rented out the in-law suite of his Brampton home to help pay his mortgage. In December 2014, Walid Madkour and Heba Ismail moved in but after a number of disputes — they wanted it quiet after 10 p.m. for example — they gave notice to leave at the end of February.

At first, Madkour told his landlord he couldn’t show the apartment to prospective renters when his wife was home. Alabi said the law gave him the authority to enter with 24-hour notice, even if she was there.

The tenants called the police, claiming his loud shovelling snow outside their apartment was harassment.

The attending officers confirmed Alabi was legally allowed to show their unit when they were there.

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That’s when they suddenly raised the religion issue, he says, and told him he couldn’t enter during prayer times. He agreed.

It was never enough, he complains.

In addition to the 24-hour notice, and the prayer times, they also wanted him to text an hour in advance.