An Icelandic citizen whose parents are a well-known sculptor and television personality in his home country, Jonsson was released under the conditions that he surrender his passport to police, stay away from from the ROM, not possess any real or fake explosive devices, and reside with one of his sureties, an Icelandic clinical psychologist.

Jonsson claims he had no idea the ROM was hosting an AIDS benefit the night he set up the fake bomb.

Toronto police Det. Leslie Dunkley said that the bomb threat tied up about two dozen police and shut down nearby streets and that, if convicted, Jonsson could face up to four years in prison.

Jonsson has said the hoax was part of a project for a film class at the Ontario College of Art and Design. Two videos depicting a fake bombing of the museum were posted to YouTube.

OCAD president Sara Diamond said the decision to suspend two faculty members with pay until the university completes its internal investigation is standard policy. "They absolutely had no support whatsoever for what the student had done outside the context of the course assignment, which was a videotape," she said.