According to the "Daily Mail" and "Guardian" reports, on November 12, local time, the prototype of the male protagonist in the well-known Hollywood movie "Happy Terminal" and an Iranian man who had lived at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport for 18 years, Mahran Karimi Nasiri died of a heart attack in the airport terminal at the age of 77.
Nasiri stayed at Charles de Gaulle airport for 18 years, choosing to stay there even after being granted French residency, and insisted on returning to the airport for 18 years before his death. Where did he go in the years since he left the airport? Did he get on the plane he wanted to take, to the country he wanted to go?
Nasiri, the prototype character of the male protagonist in the movie "Happy Terminal"
He was deported from Iran,
Lost documents were detained at French airports for 18 years
Nasili was born in Sulaymaniyah, Iran, in 1945, the son of an Iranian physicist and a mother of a British nurse. The two gave birth to Nashiri out of wedlock, which was later brought back to Iran by his father to raise.
In 1972, Nashiri's father died, and family members confessed to him that he was out of wedlock. Because his family no longer accepted him, in September 1973, he went to England to study. But when he returned home, he was imprisoned for protesting against the rule of the then Shah Pahlavi of Iran and later deported without a passport.
Nasiri said he initially applied for political asylum in several European countries. The United Nations refugee agency in Belgium granted him refugee status to travel around Europe, but the briefcase containing the document was later stolen in France.
In August 1988, while connecting from Charles de Gaulle Airport to London, Nasili lost his personal baggage, including all documents that could prove his identity, leading to his deportation back to Charles de Gaulle Airport. He went to England in the hope of finding his birth mother and settling there.
After being deported back to Charles de Gaulle airport, Nasiri was initially arrested and questioned by French police, but because his entry into the airport was legal, he could not be deported or sent to another country, and had to be released.
Because Nasiri does not have other identification documents, he cannot enter France. Since then, he has lived in the Charles de Gaulle Airport terminal and embarked on a legendary career of making the airport his home, living there for 18 years.
Make a red bench home,
Become the airport's most recognizable "mascot"
At Charles de Gaulle Airport, Nasiri lives on a red bench in the corner of the airport, where he sleeps next to an airport trolley with personal belongings. He washes up in the airport toilet and settles three meals a day at the airport McDonald's restaurant.
Year after year, Nathiri kept a diary, read newspapers and magazines, and watched the comings and goings of travelers. He spent a lot of time reading, studying economics, and writing a diary of more than 1,000 pages.
Nasili gradually became friends with airport staff and was allowed to bathe in the staff dormitory. The airport staff nicknamed him "Sir Alfred", and he became a well-known man at the airport. Living in the airport, he became a "sightseeing spot" and even began to receive financial support from travelers. And he himself looks clean and tidy, gentle and polite, and everyone likes and takes care of him. He tries his best to maintain good manners and washes his clothes regularly.
Various airport staff and passing passengers would offer him money, meal coupons, and various daily necessities, and he would record his conversations and chats with everyone in his notes, and ask everyone to sign his airport adventure diary. Many transit passengers will come to take special photos with him.
Nasili became the most recognizable "mascot" of Charles de Gaulle Airport, and his deeds began to spread widely and became more and more famous. Many people even come to chat with him, take photos and drink coffee. Airport merchants even initiated a "stay in Nasili" petition because his presence could bring business. And the airport also tolerates him as much as possible, such as keeping the one he sleeps in when completely renovating the new seat, so as not to interfere with his living life.
Nashiri poses in front of the "Happy Terminal" poster
Obtaining French residency,
He chose to stay at the airport despite fearing to leave
Reports allege that Nasiri was initially stranded at the airport because he did not have identity documents, but then it was his personal choice.
Because of bureaucracy and increasingly strict European immigration policies, Nasiri has been in a legal "vacuum" for years. In an interview with The Associated Press, he said: "One day, I will leave the airport, but I will still wait to get a passport or transit visa." ”
According to Bourget, a French lawyer who has helped Naciri for a long time, he has been struggling with his legal status since 1992. On the issue of legal residence, France and Belgium offered him the opportunity, but he did not accept it. He refused to identify himself as Iranian and claimed to be from Switzerland. Because of this contradiction of status, he preferred to remain at Charles de Gaulle airport rather than sign a document that would allow him to reside legally. Since his original nationality and name are printed on the document, signing means recognition.
In 1999, Nasiri was granted residency and refugee status in France. But when he finally received his refugee status documents, he said he was surprised but uneasy about leaving the airport and wasn't quite sure whether he wanted to stay at Charles de Gaulle or leave. His lawyer said at the time: "He didn't want to leave the airport, he was afraid to leave. ”
Airport doctors worried about Nashiri's physical and mental health, describing him as "petrified there". Those who knew him at the airport said that living in a windowless space for years had problems with his mental state, and he was like a prisoner who could not live outside the airport, afraid to leave.
became famous for movies,
He earned £210,000 selling film rights
Nacili is the prototype of the male protagonist in the film "Happy Terminal" by the well-known American director Spielberg. The film stars Tom Hanks, whose successful rendition brought Nathiri's experience to global attention.
"Happy Terminal" movie poster
In 2004, after the film aired, Nasili became famous in one fell swoop, and journalists from all over the world visited him at the airport. He said in an interview: "I know I've become a celebrity, but in fact I was a completely boring ordinary person before I came to this airport. ”
According to the report, Spielberg's production company paid Nasiri £210,000 that year for the rights to his life story. Sitting on this huge fortune did not improve his condition, and Bourget, a lawyer who had served him for a long time, said: "Even as he became a rich man, his mind was in a state of extreme paranoia and confusion." Having made airport seats his home for a long time left him mentally tired and showing signs of mental illness. ”
Sudden death of a heart attack,
Before he died, he insisted on returning to the airport where he had lived for 18 years
Nathiri is the record holder for the longest stay at the same airport in the world. In 2006, he ended an 18-year stranded at the airport when the red seat he called "home" was removed after he left the airport.
In July 2006, Nasiri left Charles de Gaulle Airport for medical problems. In January 2007, Nasiri accepted an arrangement from the French Red Cross to live in the airport transit hotel, and since 2008 has been admitted to a sanatorium in Paris. After that, he never returned to the airport, lived a stable life, and made some money through published autobiography. However, he is suspected of staying at the airport for too long, and his mental condition once had some problems.
Airport officials said Nathiri's return to live at Charles de Gaulle airport in recent weeks seemed to be the end of his life. He gets paid for the film and spends most of the honorarium. When he died, he had thousands of euros left on him.
A spokesman for Charles de Gaulle Airport said Nasiri returned to Charles de Gaulle in September and that he was an iconic figure at the airport. At noon on November 12, he suddenly suffered a heart attack, and although the police and ambulance personnel immediately gave him first aid, he still died due to ineffective rescue.
Huashang Daily Gale News reporter Guo Ji compiled and edited by Dong Lin
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