On Saturday, Mehran Karimi Nasseri, 76, an Iranian man who lived in Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport for 18 years, has died in a heart attack in the airport’s Terminal 2F.
In 1974, Nasseri left Iran to study in England, he was imprisoned upon his return to Iran for protesting against the shah and later expelled without a passport.
He tried to apply for political asylum in several countries in Europe, but was ultimately rejected. French police later arrested him, but couldn’t deport him due to lack of official documents.
From 1988 until 2006, Nasseri stayed in the Charles de Gaulle Airport’s Terminal 1, initially because he lacked residency papers and later by choice.
His tale loosely inspired Steven Spielberg’s 2004 movie “The Terminal” starring Tom Hanks, the French film “Lost in Transit”, and an opera called “Flight”.
