Mehran Karimi Nasseri, also known as Sir Alfred Mehran, was an Iranian refugee who lived in the departure lounge of Terminal 1 at Charles de Gaulle Airport from 26 August 1988 until July 2006, when he was hospitalized.
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Nasseri alleged that he was expelled from Iran in 1977 for protests against the Shah and after a long battle, involving applications in several countries, was awarded refugee status by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Belgium.
This allegedly permitted residence in many other European countries. However, this claim was disputed, with investigations showing that Nasseri was never expelled from Iran.
Nasseri’s story provided the inspiration for the 1993 French film Tombés du ciel, starring Jean Rochefort, internationally released under the title Lost in Transit.
His autobiography was published as a book, The Terminal Man, in 2004. Nasseri’s story inspired the 2004 film The Terminal.
Mehran Karimi Nasseri Age
Mehran Karimi Nasseri was 80 years at the time of his demise. Nasseri was born in 1942 in the Anglo-Persian Oil Company settlement in Masjed Soleiman, Iran.
His mother was a Scottish nurse while his father was an Iranian physician working for the company. He left Iran to study in England in 1974. When he returned, he said, he was imprisoned for protesting against the shah and expelled without a passport.
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He applied for political asylum in several countries in Europe. The UNHCR in Belgium gave him refugee credentials, but he said his briefcase containing the refugee certificate was stolen at a Paris train station.
French police later arrested him, but couldn’t deport him anywhere because he had no official documents. He ended up at Charles de Gaulle in August 1988 and stayed.
Further bureaucratic bungling and increasingly strict European immigration laws kept him in a legal no man’s land for years.
Mehran Karimi Nasseri Height
Mehran Karimi Nasseri was around 5 foot 11 inches tall
Mehran Karimi Nasseri Weight
According to various sources, Mehran Karimi Nasseri’s weight was unknown.
Mehran Karimi Nasseri Parents
His father was an Iranian doctor working for the company. Nasseri stated that his mother was a nurse from Scotland working in the same place.
He arrived in the United Kingdom in September 1973, to take a three-year course in Yugoslav studies at the University of Bradford.
Mehran Karimi Nasseri Wife
According to various sources, Mehran didn’t have a wife before his demise.
Nasseri lived in the airport’s Terminal 1 from 1988 until 2006, first in legal limbo because he lacked residency papers and later by apparent choice.
Year in and year out, he slept on a red plastic bench, made friends with airport workers, showered in staff facilities, wrote in his diary, read magazines and surveyed passing travellers.
Mehran Karimi Nasseri Children
According to various sources, Mehran didn’t have any children before his demise.
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