Article content

TORONTO — The immigration detention hearing went off kilter right at the beginning, when the man seeking release from prison was asked to identify himself.

“Madam, I hope that everything you do against me, it will stop,” he replied, in French, via video link from an Ontario prison.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or The 'Unknown Person': For six years, a man who refuses to identify himself has been held in a Canadian maximum-security prison Back to video

“I will listen to what you have to say, sir,” said the Immigration and Refugee Board’s adjudicator, Aminata Barry, “but I would like to know first of all, am I speaking to the right person?”

“I don’t care,” the man said.

Barry then got just three words into her formal opening of the hearing on April 27, 2017, before his outburst.

“I don’t care what you do, you can go to hell,” the man said as she spoke. “That’s all I have to say to you. Go to hell.”

He stood and started for the door.

“The hearing is not over,” she called out.

“I don’t care. Go to hell,” he called back as he stormed out of the prison’s videoconference room.

A prison guard, assuming the hearing had ended, popped into view saying the next inmate scheduled for a hearing was on his way.