Mehran Karimi Nassery is a legendary airport resident

Mehran Karimi Nasseri is known throughout the world, despite the fact that, in fact, it is an ordinary person who has not committed anything unique and outstanding. Except for eighteen years spent in the building of the Parisian airport.

Prehistory

Mehran Karimi Nassery was born in 1942 in Iran. From a young age, Mehran took an active part in defending certain political views, fearlessly expressed his position and views on the events taking place in Iran. Often he had to face the rejection of this kind of activity, with attacks from the authorities and other troubles. However, the pain and worry for the future of his native country prompted Nasseri to again and again become a participant in resistance to the current regime.

So, in 1977 he was overtaken by a punishment in the form of expulsion from Iran. The reason was his participation in a demonstration against Shah Mohammed Reza's regime. Mehran tried to defend his rights, but everything ended pitifully, and he was forced to leave his native country.

Evil fate or the paradox of international law?

For several years, Nasseri was forced to wander in an attempt to take refuge in European countries, but everywhere he faced failures. And yet in 1981 he was lucky - the UN Commission awarded him refugee status and allowed him to settle in Belgium. As a result, Mehran Karimi Nasseri had the right to choose any of the UN countries for residence. His choice fell on the United Kingdom. According to the norms of the then acting legislation, he no longer had the right to return to Belgium, so Mehran realized that there would be no turning back. In 1988 he went to France, the next destination was to be Heathrow Airport (England). But the bad luck was so fatal that a bag with all documents was stolen from him in Paris. However, strangely enough, this did not stop Nassery from landing on the plane. But airport employees in England did not let him into the country, since the lack of documents did not allow him to pass passport control.

As a result, the plane took him back to Paris, to the famous airport called Charles de Gaulle. But the French did not allow the Iranian refugee to leave the terminal, since he did not have permission to enter France. As a result, the man was without the right to stay anywhere, except for the terminal of a huge airport.

Life in the terminal

Mehran's lawyers labored swiftly, and in 1995 he was allowed to return to Belgium, but even 7 years of life in confined space did not break Mehran's intentions to live in the UK, as a result of which he refused the offer.

Life in the airport building was not so bleak. Friendly, neat and always ready to help, Nasseri quickly became fond of the terminal staff, and they supported him as best they could. Soon the information about the unique case seeped into the pages of newspapers and magazines, and the streams of journalists poured into Mehran. All the time spent at the airport building Charles de Gaulle, he willingly communicated with different people, and also studied a huge amount of literature, mainly devoted to economic issues.

Parting with the airport

It would seem that you will not want to change anything in your life to this amazing person. In 1998, he repeatedly refused to leave the terminal building, despite the fact that lawyers managed to restore his lost documents.

However, in 2006, Mehran Karimi Nassery fell ill. The diagnosis was uncertain, but the disease required hospitalization. So, Nasseri for the first time in 18 years left the airport Charles de Gaulle. After he was discharged from the hospital, it was not possible to return to his usual place, and he was given the opportunity to live in one of the shelters near the airport that had become almost a native building.

Mehran Karimi Nasseri, the terminal, his amazing story became a legend in France and far beyond. People arriving at Charles de Gaulle Airport still often ask the staff of the terminal in which Nasseri lived, whether this story is true and what happened to this person.

"Terminal" Spielberg

In 2004, before the release of Mehran from the building of Charles de Gaulle, the screen saw a cult picture of Steven Spielberg called "Terminal", the main role played by Tom Hanks. Mehran Karimi Nasseri, a biography whose history inspired a famous director, became the prototype of the main character - Victor Navorski. The events in the film take place in the United States, in the airport building of John Kennedy and, in fact, are very similar to the history of the Iranian. Victor also became a favorite of all employees and guests of the terminal, he knew in its walls and friendship, and love, and betrayal, as well as the power and rigidity of bureaucratic systems.

The small world in which, by chance, the hero of Hanks found himself, looked like a big world, however, unlike the usual free life where one person can not change the existing reality, it was in the terminal that Victor Navorski was able to change life for the better. The amazing drama of the unique person formed the basis of the film, which for many years will remind us that we can always make the world warmer, sometimes it just needs to narrow its borders a little.