Since 2008, he has continued to live in a Paris shelter. On 6 March 2007, he was transferred to an Emmaus charity reception-centre in Paris's 20th arrondissement. 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. Nasseri's stay at the airport ended in July 2006 when he was hospitalized and his sitting place dismantled. In 2003, Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks production company paid US$250,000 to Nasseri for the rights to his story, but ultimately did not use his story in the subsequent film, The Terminal. When contacted about Nasseri's situation, his family stated that they believed he was living the life he wanted. His refusal to sign the documents was much to the frustration of his lawyer, Bourget. īoth France and Belgium offered Nasseri residency, but Nasseri refused to sign the papers as they listed him as being Iranian (rather than British) and did not show his preferred name, "Sir Alfred Mehran". Nasseri refused this on the grounds of wanting to enter the UK as originally intended. In 1995, the Belgian authorities granted permission for him to travel to Belgium, but only if he agreed to live there under supervision of a social worker. In 1992, a French court ruled that, having entered the country legally, he could not be expelled from the airport, but it could not grant him permission to enter France.Īttempts were then made to have new documents issued from Belgium, but the authorities there would do so only if Nasseri presented himself in person. His case was later taken on by French human rights lawyer Christian Bourget. He was initially arrested by the French, but then released as his entry to the airport was legal and he had no country of origin to be returned to thus began his residence at Terminal 1. (Others indicate that Nasseri actually mailed his documents to Brussels while onboard a ferry to Britain, lying about them being stolen.) Despite this setback, he boarded the plane for London but was promptly returned to France when he failed to present a passport to British immigration officials. Having one British parent, he decided in 1986 to settle in the UK, but en route there in 1988, his papers were lost when his briefcase was allegedly stolen. However, this claim has been disputed, with investigations showing that Nasseri was never expelled from Iran. This allegedly permitted residence in many other European countries. Nasseri alleges 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. Nasseri's residency site in Terminal 1 of Charles de Gaulle Airport.
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