Mehran Karimi Nasseri, known as Sir Alfred, died at Terminal 2F of Charles De Gaulle airport on November 12th, 2022.
He was an Iranian political refugee who lived more than 18 years at the same airport where he spent his last days. His peculiar story inspired director Steven Spielberg's film "The Terminal."
After spending most of the earnings from the film, which allowed him to move into a hotel room and then to a shelter for a few years, he went back to living at the airport. Those who found him after he passed testified that he had several thousand euros on him.
He was born in Masjed Soleiman, in the Iranian province of Kuzistan, and with the nickname of "Sir Alfred," he made Terminal 1 his home in November 1999.
During that time, he was long wandering in search of his mother. He had been looking for her in London, Berlin, and Amsterdam. Each time he was expelled by the authorities of various countries as he was not in possession of the necessary documents for traveling. Finally, in 1999, he obtained refugee status in France and a residence permit.
After a few weeks after he arrived at the airport, France was ready to grant him a residence permit with the condition that he presents the refugee card granted to him by the Belgian government. However, that would have required Nasseri to go and collect it there, and he could not leave France.
The situation is unlocked seven years later, in 1999, when he is escorted to the Bobigny court to collect his documents. Then, Nasseri surprised everyone by claiming that those documents were wrong, declaring his name to be "Sir Alfred Mehran" and that he was not an Iranian citizen.
This was probably due to a degeneration of brain functions. Nevertheless, Nasseri continued to stay at Charles De Gaulle airport Terminal 1 until August 2006, when, for food poisoning, he was hospitalized.
Discharged in January 2007, he was taken over by the local French Red Cross section of the airport; he stayed for a few weeks in a hotel near the airport, and on March 5th, 2007, he was transferred to a shelter run by Emmaüs France in the 20th arrondissement of Paris.
In Roissy, he had become a friendly and familiar face for airport staff and passengers, starring in news reports, TV, and radio worldwide. In 2004 Tom Hanks played his role in "The Terminal." After the film, Nasseri moved to a shelter in Paris.
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