What is the most interesting fact that you know and I don't, but I should?
A man lived in an airport for almost two decades.
Mehran Karimi Nasseri was left stranded in an airport after losing his refugee documents.
He was seeking asylum in Belgium—after being exiled from Iran—and decided that he wanted to travel to the U.K. and settle there.
However, to get to the U.K., he took a flight to France and ended up losing his briefcase that contained his refugee and travel documents.
He claims it was stolen on a train ride in Paris.
After attempting to get into the United Kingdom, he was turned away and sent back to France by passport control—since he didn’t have any verification.
When he was returned back to France, the French police arrested him for not having his papers—but then released him since his stay in the airport itself wasn’t against any rules.
Thus, Mehran began his 18 year stay in the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.
He spent his days reading newspapers and writing in a 1,000 page diary. People all over the world heard of his story and sent him money and well-wishes.
A French Human Rights lawyer, by the name of Christian Bourget, decided to try and help Mehran, by getting him some identification.
There was one major problem, though.
Belgium couldn’t issue new papers to Mehran.
They said that:
- He needed to be there in person and,
- they couldn’t issue papers to a refugee who’s left their country.
Belgium stubbornly stuck with this rule until 10 years later—when they finally issued Mehran new papers.
By this point, Mehran was a tad bit crazy.
He’d had spent well over 10 years living in an airport—and his story started falling apart at the seams.
He claimed that the new documentation that was issued was false and saying things like he “traveled from Sweden to Iran in a submarine”.
Refusing the new documents, Mehran stayed in the airport until 2006, when he was admitted into a hospital for an unknown ailment.
He was released in 2007 and now lives in Parisian suburbs after being issued a residency permit by the French government.
His story also sparked the inspiration for the 2004 film, The Terminal. It’s definitely a crazy story to remember!
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