Merhan Karimi Nasseri

Mehran Karimi Nasseri, also known as Sir, Alfred Mehran (the comma is intentional), is an Iranian refugee who has been living in the departure lounge of Terminal One in Charles de Gaulle Airport since August 8, 1988.

The fight for papers

His case was taken up by human rights lawyer Christian Bourget, and in 1992 a French court ruled that Nasseri could not be expelled from France as he had legally entered the country as a refugee. However, the court couldn't force the French government to give Nasseri refugee status or a transit visa, and so Nasseri continued to remain in limbo within the confines of the airport terminal building.

Related Topics:
Human rights - Christian Bourget - 1992 - Visa - Airport terminal

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Bourget now approached the Belgian government in an attempt to get them to re-issue Nasseri's original refugee documents. However, the Belgian refugee officials refused to mail them to him in France, stating that Nasseri must instead present himself in person so that they could identify him as the same man to whom they had issued the original refugee documents. Under Belgian law, a refugee who voluntarily leaves the country is not allowed to return, and so, in something of a contradiction, the Belgian government refused to allow Nasseri to travel back to Belgium to claim his identity. In 1995, the Belgian government partially relented and told Nasseri that he could retrieve his refugee documents if he agreed to live in Belgium under the supervision of a social worker. Nasseri refused, stating that he didn't want to live in Belgium but wanted to live in the United Kingdom.

Related Topics:
Belgian law - Social worker

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In 1999, the French Government granted Nasseri a temporary residency permit and a refugee's passport, giving him the opportunity to live in France and finally leave the airport. However, Nasseri refused to sign the necessary papers claiming that they did not identify him correctly. His refusal to sign was perhaps an indication of his failing mental health as he had begun to deny that he was Iranian and claimed not to be able to speak Persian. He had also begun to call himself "Sir, Alfred" (sic). At some point in the past he had received a letter from the British authorities which had begun "Sir, Alfred..." and since then he has stated that this (including the comma) is his official name.

Related Topics:
1999 - Residency permit - Passport - Persian - Sic

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Over the years, Nasseri has become accustomed to his life in the airport terminal. He keeps himself clean and rises at 5 a.m. every morning (approximately the time when the airport starts to welcome passengers in for the early flights) to wash in the public toilets. The airport staff sometimes wash his clothes for him and have donated a sofa for his use. He spends most of the day listening to the radio, reading books and writing his diary. This diary has been turned into an autobiography, The Terminal Man (ISBN 0552152749), in collaboration with Andrew Donkin, a ghostwriter.

Related Topics:
Public toilet - Sofa - Autobiography - Ghostwriter

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