The Iranian refugee, who lived at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris for 18 years and who inspired Steven Spielberg to make his movie “Terminal”, is dead. Mehran Karimi Nasseri died of natural causes in Terminal 2 F of the airport on Saturday afternoon when the 76-year-old died, an airport spokesman confirmed. In mid-September, Nasseri, who called himself Sir Alfred, moved back to the airport having previously lived in the house and most recently in the hotel.
Nasseri fled Iran for political reasons. During a stopover in 1988, the Iranian lost his papers in the transit zone. He could no longer prove his refugee status and was now not allowed to travel further or leave the airport. He then settled in Terminal 1. For years he tried unsuccessfully to gain admission in several European countries. In 1999 he got a visa for France, but he stayed in his alcove under an airport escalator where he had felt at home.
Not much spoken lately
It wasn’t until 2006 that he left the airport for a hospital stay and then lived in a house. Nasseri’s story inspired Steven Spielberg’s 2004 film “Terminal” starring Tom Hanks (66). With the money he got for the film, Nasseri moved to a hotel. For a few weeks, however, he had been living at the airport again and always sat in the same place with his things in a trolley, airport employees report to the newspaper “Le Parisien”.
The stateless person had barely spoken lately and stared into the void. After the death of the “terminal man,” as he called himself in an autobiographical novel, the airport covered his place with a white sheet. (SDA/AFP/kes)
Source: Blick
I’m Tim David and I work as an author for 24 Instant News, covering the Market section. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, my mission is to provide accurate, timely and insightful news coverage that helps our readers stay informed about the latest trends in the market. My writing style is focused on making complex economic topics easy to understand for everyone.
