For six years, man who refuses to identify himself has held in a Canadian prison

Re:For six years, man who refuses to identify himself has he... by perlgeek on Thursday November 21, 2019 @07:57AM (#21593571)

It's fun to speculate why somebody would behave this way.

A few things I could imagine:

* he fears being treated worse if his identity is found out (like an extradition to the US where he could face capital punishment, or detainment by another power that would treat him worse)

* he has a fundamental distrust of authorities that makes him somehow behave that way

* he has serious mental health issues (the article doesn't mention any psychological assessment)

Given his history of fraud, I'd tend toward the first idea, but who knows?

Any other ideas?

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Re:For six years, man who refuses to identify himself has he... by tyingq on Thursday November 21, 2019 @08:07AM (#21593626)

He's wanted in Cameroon for something else, and knows prison there is worse? (Your first guess)

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kondengui_Central_Prison

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Re:For six years, man who refuses to identify himself has he... by jacknews on Thursday November 21, 2019 @08:10AM (#21593654)

He's a career fraudster and narcissist?

They should just give him a name, convict him of the fraud, and then try to deport him to serve his sentence somewhere (much) less comfortable than Canada.

Sorry, I have no patience with these 419 type scammers.

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Re:For six years, man who refuses to identify himself has he... by saagarjha on Thursday November 21, 2019 @08:12AM (#21593662)

> he's a career fraudster and narcissist

How do you know this?

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Re:For six years, man who refuses to identify himself has he... by wil421 on Thursday November 21, 2019 @08:25AM (#21593734)

> He was convicted for fraudulent documents and given an eight-month sentence in London. Afterwards, he stayed in Britain and was convicted again, under a different name, in 2009 on a fraud charge and sentenced to 12 months imprisonment.

> He said his passport was at his apartment in Montreal. Police charged him with two counts of fraud and personation.

Certainly a fraudster.

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Re:For six years, man who refuses to identify himself has he... by pbhjpbhj on Thursday November 21, 2019 @08:35AM (#21593796)

A corollary to your first point is the possibility he fears retribution from a criminal party -- maybe the passport provider threatened his family if he ever gave up his real name.

Other reasons not to give identity could be related to fear of being disgraced, or found by someone seeking retribution, or found by an abuser.

Being caught for past crimes does seem most likely.

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Re:For six years, man who refuses to identify himself has he... by Razengan on Thursday November 21, 2019 @08:09AM (#21593639)

• He wants to be in prison.

• Is a time traveller, an avatar of Nyarlathotep, or something even more bizarre.

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Re:For six years, man who refuses to identify himself has he... by chongli on Thursday November 21, 2019 @08:22AM (#21593708)

like an extradition to the US where he could face capital punishment

Canada does not extradite people without assurances that capital punishment is off the table.

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Re:For six years, man who refuses to identify himself has he... by sundayedition on Thursday November 21, 2019 @08:41PM (#21601709)

Does that still apply even if they're not a Canadian citizen, and not in Canada legally?

I'd think there would be a point where they might say "not my problem, not getting involved"

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Re:For six years, man who refuses to identify himself has he... by perlgeek on Thursday November 21, 2019 @10:11AM (#21594810)

You have to trust both Canada AND the US to some level to accept that argument, which he might now.

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Re:For six years, man who refuses to identify himself has he... by qzx_pierri on Thursday November 21, 2019 @08:51AM (#21593944)

Canadians are so nice

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Re:For six years, man who refuses to identify himself has he... by b3lvedere on Thursday November 21, 2019 @08:41AM (#21593855)

My best guess is that he is hoping to outlive the complex system that will eventually 'forget' this case and he will eventually be a free man to stay in Canada due to new people and systems in power.

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Re:For six years, man who refuses to identify himself has he... by wil421 on Thursday November 21, 2019 @08:23AM (#21593712)

He fears going back to Cameroon or whatever other African nation. Given the details in the article it sounds like the US doesn’t have anything on him.

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Re:For six years, man who refuses to identify himself has he... by nroets on Thursday November 21, 2019 @08:58AM (#21594013)

Up this. Many people from Africa want to go to Canada: https://m.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/sa-cant-force-refugees...

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Re:For six years, man who refuses to identify himself has he... by bru on Thursday November 21, 2019 @08:04AM (#21593608)

* He forgot it

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Re:For six years, man who refuses to identify himself has he... by clarry on Thursday November 21, 2019 @08:07AM (#21593627)

Maybe he never had a real identity?

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Re:For six years, man who refuses to identify himself has he... by davidhyde on Thursday November 21, 2019 @08:30AM (#21593763)

Metal health issues and a distrust of people who hold power over him.

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