Nasseri made his life at the Charles de Gaulle airport and even when he was given the chance to return to his country or seek asylum in another European country, the man decided against it and continued to live there and for 18 years he called this airport his home. In the end, he passed away at the same airport from a heart attack.
Man Who Had Been Living At French Airport For Past 18 Years Passes Away
By
Samantha in
Heartbreaking
On 13th November 2022
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Mehran Karimi Nasseri, the Irani-born Nasseri man who spent 18 years of his life living in Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, has died there.
The man was thought to born in 1945 but what happened to him in 1988 came to define his real life.
When Nasseri came to France, he was lacking the necessary residency papers, he was forced to live in the airport after he was not allowed to leave it. He was unable to return to Iran as he had been expelled from the country without a passport, leading him to seek asylum in Europe.
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Nasseri was then given the right to seek refuge in Belgium, however, he said that his luggage containing his official documents were stolen at a Parisian train station.
He was arrested by French police, but they couldn't deport him anywhere as he lacked any sort of official documents and he ended up at Charles de Gaulle airport in August 1988.
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For the next 18 years, he became a permanent fixture in the airport's Terminal 1, spending most of that time being stuck in legal limbo.
When his refuge papers finally cleared in 1999, he got nervous about leaving the airport and reportedly refused to sign them, spending several more years living in the airport.
He then would sleep on a red plastic bench inside the airport and then managed to make friends with the staff who was working at the terminal. Later they nicknamed him 'Lord Alfred' and he became a famous face for passengers as they journeyed through the airport.
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He then continued to live in Charles de Gaulle airport by personal choice, calling the airport his home until 2006 when he was hospitalized and his sleeping area in the airport dismantled.
Once he was out of the airport, Nasseri lived in a shelter in Paris, though Charles de Gaulle staff said that in the final weeks before his death, he had started living in the airport again.
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Nasseri passed away in the airport's terminal 2F on 12 November, with a medical team unable to resuscitate him.
During his stay at the airport, the staff became worried that Nasseri was unable to adjust to life outside.
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Nasseri's life story also ended up becoming an inspiration for the 2004 movie The Terminal starring Tom Hanks as a man unable to return to his home country and forced to live in an airport.
While Hanks' character was from a fictional Eastern European country and he spent his time living in JFK airport in the US, the key idea of a man trapped in political limbo and forced to live in an airport terminal was the main inspiration behind the movie.
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