Meet Mehran Karimi Nasseri: Iranian Refugee who lived at Paris Airport for 18 years

Mehran Karimi Nasseri, an Iranian refugee, is widely considered to be the inspiration behind the 2004 Hollywood movie "The Terminal," starring Tom Hanks.

Mehran Nassiri (Image: Simple Flying)

Mehran Karimi Nasseri is a man well-known in closed doors of aviation quarters. His life is widely considered to be the inspiration behind the 2004 Hollywood movie "The Terminal," starring Tom Hanks. In the movie, global star played a role of an Eastern European man who was refused an entry to the United States due to war in his country and was stuck in New York's John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK). His role was inspired from real-life experience of Mehran Karimi Nasseri, who lived at the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) for 18 years.

About Mehram Karimi Nasseri

As per a report on Simple Flying, Mehram Karimi Nasseri was born in Masjed Soleiman, Iran to an Iranian doctor and a Scottish nurse and lived a well-off life in the oil-rich city. He arrived in the United Kingdom in 1973 to study Yugoslav studies at the University of Bradford in West Yorkshire. However, he was expelled from Iran after returning to the Middle Eastern Country in 1977 after protesting the rule of 'The Shah'.

Karimi was awarded the status of refugee in Belgium by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Belgium after he applied to many countries to let him enter their territory. Iran has refuted the claims made by Nasseri and investigations showed that he was never expelled from Iran. He decided to live in the UK in 1989.

Mehram Karimi Nasseri in France

With asylum being granted to Mehram Nasseri in Belgium, the Iranian decided to live in the United Kingdom, his mother being British. En route to the UK from France, Nasseri lost his documents, with him being claiming that the papers were lost after someone stole his briefcase. However, with his other claims being getting falsified slowly, some stated that Nasseri mailed his documents to Brussels while onboard a ferry and made up the story about them being stolen.

Nevertheless, Nasseri boarded a flight to London, but was asked to return back to France with no papers to identify himself. Upon landing at the Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport, he was arrested by the French authorities, for having no documents. Although he was later released for entering the airport legally, he had no country to return to, thus starting his 18 years of ordeal.

French human rights lawyer and Nasseri

Christian Bourget, a French human rights lawyer, took his case to the local courts and in 1992 a French court ruled that he could not be extradited as he entered France legally. However, as it happened, the court didn't allow Nasseri to enter France either due to lack of documents and no valid grounds to enter the country. His lawyer then attempted to get travel documents issued from Belgium, however, for that, Nasseri has to be present in person in Brussels.

His lawyer managed to get Nasseri permission from Belgium to live in the country under the supervision of a social worker in 1995. However, he refused the offered stating he wanted to settle in the UK and no other country. Later France decided to grant Nasseri residence, but he refused the offered saying his nationality is listed as Iranian, when he wanted to be British and go by the name "Sir Alfred."

18-years-in airport

With refusals to France and Belgium, his lawyer Bourget got frustrated and said he won't take the case of Nasseri further, stating he is living the life he wants. Nasseri's stay at the Paris airport finally ended in July 2006 when he was hospitalized and was later taken care by the French Red Cross. During his 18-year stay at the airport, Nasseri lived on food and reading material provided by the airport workers.

Tom Hank's 'The Terminal'

Inspired by his life, in 2003, Mehram Karimi Nasseri was contacted by Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks production company and paid $250,000 for the rights to his story. The story was later made into 'The Terminal' starring Hollywood star Tom Hanks. However, only the initial life of the Nasseri was used in the movie and everything else was fictional.