Mehran Karimi Nasseri, The Iranian Exile Behind Steven Spielberg’s ‘The Terminal’ Dies In An Airport Terminal

Iranian exile Mehran Karimi Nasseri will always be remembered for his indomitable will and strong resolve when he chose to spend almost two decades in an airport terminal until he was given asylum in Paris. His struggle inspired many documentaries and films, most notable being Steven Spielberg's The Terminal starring Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones. On Saturday, life came full circle as Karimi died in the same airport he spent most of his life in.

As per reports from ANI, Karimi started to live at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport again in recent weeks. He stayed at Terminal 2F. On Saturday (12 November), Mehran suffered from a heart attack and later succumbed to it, breathing his last there.

Mehran Karimi Nasseri was expelled from Iran in 1977 for protesting against the Shah. He was later awarded refugee status by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. He traveled from the UK to Frans, but his briefcase that contained the necessary refugee status documents were allegedly stolen in transit. As a result, he was denied asylum in France and was then detained in Terminal 1 of Paris' Charles De Gaulle airport in 1988.
After staying in the airport for 18 long years, Mehran left the airport for the first time as he needed to be hospitalized. After leaving the hospital, Mehran Karimi was cared for by the airport's branch of the French Red Cross. In 2008, he started living in a Paris shelter. However, just a few weeks before his demise, he returned to living in the same Airport.

During his stay in the airport, Nasseri co-authored a book with British writer Andrew Dorkin named The Terminal Man. The Sunday Times reviewed the book and stated that it was 'profoundly disturbing and brilliant.'

Apart from The Terminal, other fictional works based on Mehran's life are Tombés du Ciel starring Jean Rochefort, the contemporary opera Flight, and the documentary Sir Alfred of Charles De Gaulle Airport.