In a perfect storm, Mehran Karimi Nasseri was stuck in an airport in France for more than 17 long years. But for some, an airport has become a home. Would you manage to stay sane, or would you lose your marbles like Mehran reportedly did?įor most of us, an airport is nothing more than a place to wait for a journey to begin. The next time you’re at the airport, take a look around and imagine what it’d be like to actually live there. Others choose the airport because they’d rather live there than on the street. Several people have spent months and even years trapped in airports, mostly for bureaucratic reasons like lost paperwork or no proof of identification. Sadly, Mehran isn’t alone in his suffering. There was too much noise coming from the airports’ loudspeakers. Some say that by the end of his stay, Mehran had gone insane. He has since been living in a homeless shelter in Paris. He called it “The Terminal.” According to Mehran, he was given $250,000 for his story but was unable to access the money because he was still without proof of identification.įinally, in 2006 after 17 years in the airport, Mehran became so ill that he had to be hospitalized. #The terminal man mehran karimi nasseri movie#In 2004, Steven Spielberg even decided to make a movie about Mehran. In the beginning, airport employees gave him food, but as his story spread, journalists began to offer him money in exchange for an interview. He shaved every day in the public bathrooms. Sixteen long years passed while Mehran sat on a red bench in Terminal One. Police told him to stay put in the airport until they could figure out a better solution. When he attempted to leave Paris on a flight to England, he was denied because he didn’t have the necessary papers. In 1981, he was given refugee status in Belgium, but his briefcase carrying proof of his status was stolen in a Paris train station. He fled to Europe, seeking asylum in several countries. In 1977, Mehran was stripped of his passport and kicked out of his home country of Iran for protesting against the government. In a perfect storm of unlucky events, Mehran Karimi Nasseri found himself stranded at the Charles de Gaulle airport in France for more than 17 long years. For the majority of us, an airport is nothing more than a place to wait for a journey to begin.
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