Mehran Karimi Nasseri

Mehran Karimi Nasseri (, ; 1945 – 12 November 2022), also known as Sir, Alfred Mehran, was an Iranian refugee who lived in the departure lounge of Terminal 1 at Charles de Gaulle Airport from 26 August 1988 until July 2006. Initially stranded due to lack of valid travel documents, he chose to remain at the airport despite being granted residency in Belgium in 1995 and France in 1999. Nasseri's autobiography was published as a book, The Terminal Man in 2004. His life story inspired the 1993 film Lost in Transit and the 2004 film The Terminal.

Early life Nasseri was born in the Anglo-Persian Oil Company settlement located in Masjed Soleyman, Iran. His father, Abdelkarim, was an Iranian doctor working for the company which allowed Nasseri to grow up relatively affluently. Nasseri has claimed that he was the result of an illegitimate affair, and that his mother was a nurse from Scotland working in the same place but had also claimed a Swedish mother. However, these claims were never substantiated, and it is most likely that Nasseri's mother was an Iranian homemaker.

Life in Terminal 1

Nasseri alleged that he was expelled from Iran in 1977 for protests against the Shah and after a long battle, involving applications in several countries, was awarded refugee status by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Belgium. This allegedly permitted residence in many other European countries. However, this claim was disputed, with investigations showing that Nasseri was never expelled from Iran.

He was able to travel between the United Kingdom and France, but in 1988, his papers were lost when his briefcase was allegedly stolen. Others indicate that Nasseri actually mailed his documents to Brussels while on board a ferry to Britain, lying about them being stolen. Arriving in London, he was returned to France when he failed to present a passport to British immigration officials. At the French airport, he was unable to prove his identity or refugee status and was detained in the waiting area for travellers without papers.

Nasseri's case was later taken on by French human rights lawyer Christian Bourget. Attempts were then made to have new documents issued from Belgium, but the authorities there would do so only if Nasseri presented himself in person. In 1995, the Belgian authorities granted permission for him to travel to Belgium, but only if he agreed to live there under the supervision of a social worker. Nasseri refused this on the grounds of wanting to enter the UK as originally intended.

In 2003, Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks production company paid a rumoured US$275,000 to Nasseri for the rights to his story, but ultimately did not use his story in the film The Terminal.

Nasseri's 18-year stay at the airport ended in July 2006 when he was hospitalized and his sitting place was dismantled. Towards the end of January 2007, he left the hospital and was looked after by the airport's branch of the French Red Cross; he was lodged for a few weeks in a hotel close to the airport. On 6 March 2007, he was transferred to an Emmaus charity reception centre in Paris's 20th arrondissement. From 2008 onwards, he lived in a Paris shelter,

Autobiography In 2004, Nasseri's autobiography, The Terminal Man,

Documentaries and fictionalizations Nasseri's story provided the inspiration for the 1993 French film Lost in Transit, starring Jean Rochefort. The short story "The Fifteen-Year Layover", written by Michael Paterniti and published in GQ and The Best American Non-Required Reading, chronicles Nasseri's life. Alexis Kouros made a documentary about him, Waiting for Godot at De Gaulle (2000).

Flight Nasseri's story was the inspiration for the contemporary opera Flight by British composer Jonathan Dove, which was premiered at the Glyndebourne Opera House in 1998. Flight would go on to win the Helpmann Awards at the Adelaide Festival Theatre in March 2006.

Here to Where

Glen Luchford and Paul Berczeller made the Here to Where mockumentary (2001), also featuring Nasseri.

Sir Alfred of Charles De Gaulle Airport Hamid Rahmanian and Melissa Hibbard made a documentary called Sir Alfred of Charles De Gaulle Airport (2001).

The Terminal Nasseri was reportedly the inspiration behind the character Viktor Navorski, played by Tom Hanks, from Steven Spielberg's 2004 film The Terminal. However, neither the film's publicity materials, nor the DVD "special features" nor the film's website mentions Nasseri's situation as an inspiration for the film. Despite this, in September 2003, The New York Times noted that Spielberg had bought the rights to Nasseri's life story as the basis for The Terminal. The Guardian indicated that Spielberg's DreamWorks production company paid US$250,000 to Nasseri for rights to his story and reported that, as of 2004, he carried a poster advertising Spielberg's film draping his suitcase next to his bench. Nasseri was reportedly excited about The Terminal, but it was unlikely that he would ever have had a chance to see it in cinemas.

He was interred on 8 December 2023 in (the communal cemetery of Mauregard) in France.