Mehran Karimi Nasseri – Wikipedia

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Mehran Karimi Nasseri (2005)

Mehran Karimi Nasseri [ Meɦˈrɔːn kʲæriːˈmiː nɔːseˈriː ] (Persian Mehran Karimi Nasseri ; According to some information too Merhan ; * 1945 in Masdsched Soleyman, Iran; [first] † November 12, 2022 in Paris, France) was an Iranian refugee who was in Paris Airport for eighteen years Charles de Gaulle lived.

The exact life path of Nasseris cannot be fully traced. In interviews he repeatedly gave different information on origin and career; There are also contradictory statements in his autobiography. It is not doubted that he was the son of an Iranian doctor who worked for the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and that he was born in a work settlement in Masdsched Soleyman. However, he later stated without evidence that he was the illegitimate child of a Scottish nurse who worked in the work settlement or were born in Sweden. [2]

The oldest verifiable statement about Nasseri is that he arrived in England in September 1973 and started a three -year degree on the history of Yugoslavia at the University of Bradford.

Back in Iran, he was said to have been arrested in 1977 for protests against Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and later reported from his home country. After a fault trip by several European countries, the UNHCR in Belgium granted the refugee status. This generally allowed him to settle down anywhere in the then European community. However, only a new stay in England in 1986 is documented.

Nasseri himself later told all reporters: in 1988 he flown to London via Paris. His travel documents were stolen during the stopover in Paris. As a result, he was neither able to demonstrate his status as a refugee nor his identity. After landing in London, his entry was therefore rejected and he was sent back to Paris. Here he was also prohibited from leaving the terminal.

Life in the terminal [ Edit | Edit the source text ]

Since Nasseri could not prove a country of origin without his papers, it was impossible for the French authorities to show him. In the following years he was in Terminal 1 of the airport Charles de Gaulle A where he lived from August 1988 to August 2006. In interviews, Nasseri later explained that he was provided with food by the employees of the local McDonalds restaurant and received hygiene articles from other shops. What money was given to him, he deposited on a savings book that he was able to open in the terminal area at the post office.

The French lawyer Christian Bouruet took over Nasseri’s case in 1989 when he was arrested for the third time by the French authorities. In addition to Bouruet, the airport doctor, Philippe Bargain, became a constant point of reference in his life. Nasseri also received mail from other travelers via Bargain, who called him “Sir Alfred” in their letters.

His story made him a little celebrity in the French press, which was produced in 1993 for the production of French film Heaven (German: fell from heaven; later under Lost in Transit Published). In 1998 the opera The Flight Published, which is inspired by his life at the airport. In 1998 he was interviewed for a documentary that under the title in 2000 under the title Sir Alfred of Charles de Gaulle Airport has been published. Many images used by Nasseri later come from this time. You can also see here that, contrary to the media legend, he was not in the transit area.

Residence status problem [ Edit | Edit the source text ]

Nasseris documents were found in 1995 by efforts by his lawyer. Accordingly, he must have sent her back to Brussels from Belgium to Brussels during a boat crossing. Perhaps he assumed that he no longer needed the papers, which then turned out to be a mistake when entering. When he was taken up, he said that the papers had been stolen from him. The Great Britain and Belgium authorities sent him back and forth several times. Ultimately, he stranded in France.

In September 1999, replacement papers were delivered through the lawyer who would have allowed Nasseri to enter France. However, Nasseri refused to sign the entry documents because he thought they were fake. He denied being Nasseri and called for papers in the name “Sir, Alfred Mehran” (although he doesn’t Sir is and with false comma) that should not identify him as Iranian. Then he continued his life in the terminal. The documentaries had given him an incentive to write on his autobiography. He was supported by Andrew Donkin, who finally under the title in 2004 under the title The Terminal Man published.

filming [ Edit | Edit the source text ]

In 2003, DreamWorks Pictures bought the rights to history, for which Nasseri is said to have received $ 275,000. The film appeared the following year Terminal directed by Steven Spielberg, which is based on Nasseris fate. Tom Hanks plays the role of homeless, but the person and her home country are fictional.

The great success of the film made Nasseri world famous. However, he further rejected to leave Terminal 1. According to his lawyer in 2005, nothing stood in the way of the official.

Further life and death [ Edit | Edit the source text ]

Extensive renovation work on Terminal 1 is said to have forced Nasseri 2006 to give up its traditional place, even if it could stay on the same floor. At the end of July 2006, he is said to have left the terminal to go to a hospital because of a bad inflammation. [2] After returning in January 2007, the local Red Cross, which is responsible for the airport, gave him a place in a nearby hotel at the airport. On March 6, 2007, Nasseri moved to a dormitory of the homeless welfare in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. During a new stay in the airport Charles de Gaulle , this time in Terminal 2, he died of a heart attack on November 12, 2022 at the age of 76. [3] [4] [5] His health in the weeks before was badly described by eyewitnesses. [2] [6]

  1. ↑ Frédéric Naizot: “Sir Alfred”, the homeless one that inspired Spielberg and his film “Le Terminal”, died at Roissy airport. In: The Parisian. 12. November 2022, accessed on November 12, 2022 (French).
  2. ↑ a b c Stella Schalamon: “Terminal Man”: It was his home. In: Time online. December 22, 2022, S. 2 , accessed on December 22, 2022 .
  3. ↑ Mehran Karimi Nasseri, Roissy’s refugee who inspired Steven Spielberg’s “Terminal”, died in the airport. In: The world. 12. November 2022, accessed on November 12, 2022 (French).
  4. ↑ Southgerman newspaper: “Terminal man” died-at the airport. Accessed on November 13, 2022 .
  5. ↑ Euronews: 18 years at Paris Airport: Merhan Karimi Nasseri is dead. Accessed on November 14, 2022 .
  6. ↑ Stella Schalamon: “Terminal Man”: It was his home. In: Time online. December 22, 2022, S. 3 , accessed on December 22, 2022 .