14.1 C
Auckland
Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Popular Now

Man who inspired ‘The Terminal’ dies at French airport – AFP

Mehran Karimi Nasseri news

Iranian exile Mehran Karimi Nasseri has reportedly passed away weeks after returning to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.

An Iranian exile who was stuck for more than a decade at a French airport, inspiring a Steven Spielberg movie, has died of natural causes just weeks after returning to the transportation hub that he long called home, Agence France-Presse has reported.

Mehran Karimi Nasseri, who claimed to have left Iran in 1977, passed away on Saturday in Terminal 2F of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, the news agency cited an airport official as saying. He was 77 years old.

Nasseri, who has been given refugee status in Belgium, traveled around Europe in November 1988 in a failed effort to locate his mother. Lacking a visa, he was refused entry to the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands before arriving at the Paris airport, where he was detained and released into the Terminal 1 building.

He remained there with just his suitcase, living off of food given to him by airport employees and calling himself “Sir Alfred.” A French court ruled in 1992 that Nasseri couldn’t be forcibly expelled from the airport, but nor could he be allowed entry to the country. He was granted residency as a refugee in 1999, but by then, he no longer wanted to leave the airport.

Nasseri’s story later came to the attention of Spielberg, who offered him $250,000 for rights to make it into a movie. The 2004 film, ‘The Terminal,’ starred Tom Hanks as an Eastern European man who got stuck at a US airport after he was denied entry and his own country was taken over in a coup.

That same year, Nasseri’s autobiography – co-written by UK author Andrew Dorkin – was released. He finally left the airport in 2006, when he was hospitalized. He returned a few weeks ago, after spending most of his Hollywood money, the airport official told AFP. Several thousand euros were found in his possession.

Promoted Content

Source:RT News

No login required to comment. Name, email and web site fields are optional. Please keep comments respectful, civil and constructive. Moderation times can vary from a few minutes to a few hours. Comments may also be scanned periodically by Artificial Intelligence to eliminate trolls and spam.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Latest

Trending

Sport

Daily Life

Opinion

Wellington
few clouds
15.2 ° C
15.6 °
13.3 °
59 %
9.8kmh
24 %
Wed
14 °
Thu
11 °
Fri
13 °
Sat
14 °
Sun
14 °