Mehran Karimi Naseri is a well-known figure in the closed doors of the Aviation Quarter. His life is widely considered to be the inspiration behind the 2004 Hollywood film “The Terminal” starring Tom Hanks. In the film, Global Star played an Eastern European man who was refused entry to the United States because of the war in his home country and is stuck at John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) in New York. Her role was inspired by the real-life experience of Mehran Karimi Nasseri, who lived in Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) for 18 years.
About Mehram Karimi Nasri
According to a report in Simple Flying, Mehram Karimi Naseri was born in Masjid Suleiman, Iran to an Iranian doctor and a Scottish nurse, and lived a good 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 opposing the rule of ‘The Shah’.
Karimi was granted refugee status in Belgium by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Belgium after he applied for several countries to enter its territory. Iran has denied the claims made by Nasseri and the investigation revealed that he was never expelled from Iran.
Mehram Karimi Nasseri in France
With Mehram Nasseri granted asylum in Belgium, Irani decided to stay in the United Kingdom, her mother being British. On his way from France to Britain, Nasseri lost his documents, with him being claimed to have lost the papers after someone allegedly stole his briefcase. Some claim that Nasseri mailed his documents to Brussels while on a ferry and made up the story of them being stolen.
Fearless, Nasseri boarded a flight to London, but with no papers to identify himself, he was promptly returned to France. Now back in France, he was arrested by the French authorities, but then released because it was legal for him to be at the airport, and he had no country to return.
A French human rights lawyer takes up his case
And so began the life of Nasseri in Terminal 1. A French human rights lawyer, Christian Bourget, agreed to take his case, and in 1992 a French court ruled that he could not be extradited because he had entered the country legally. The ruling did not allow him to enter France, leaving him stuck at the airport.
Her lawyer then attempted to release travel documents from Belgium, but Brussels officials said this would only be possible if Nasseri presented himself in person. In 1995, he was allowed to travel to Belgium under the condition that he live under the care of a social worker. Nasseri declined the offer, saying he wanted to stay in the UK as he had initially planned to do so.
Even as France decided to give residence to Nassery, he refused to sign the paper because he listed his nationality as Iranian when he wanted to be British and “Sir Alfred”. wanted to be known. By this time, Bourget was dismayed at his client’s refusal to accept Belgian and French residency offers. Asked why he did not accept the offers, his lawyer said Nasseri was living the life he wanted.
Nasseri left the airport in 2007.
Nasseri’s stay at the airport ended in July 2006 when he was hospitalized until January 2007. When discharged from the hospital, he was looked after by a branch of the French Red Cross. He placed Nasseri in a hotel near the airport, where he stayed until he was transferred to a charity reception center at the 20th arrondissement of Paris. During his 18-year stay at the airport, Nasseri kept his luggage with him and shunned the generosity of the airport staff, who provided him with food and reading materials.
In 2003, Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks production company approached Nasseri and paid $250,000 for the rights to his story. In the end, however, Spielberg did not use Nasseri’s story, but kept the initial plot for the film “The Terminal”.