He lived at the airport for a full 18 years

I know the title may sound unreal, but the story you are about to read is completely true. Namely, Mehran Karimi Nasseri, born in 1942 in Iran, spent a full 18 years at the airport in Paris. According to his autobiography ‘The Man from the Terminal’ published in 2004, Steven Spielberg made the film Terminal with Tom Hanks in the lead role.

Namely, he lived on the stretch between a pizzeria and an electronics store. Passengers rushing through Terminal 1 of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport could see this skinny self-deprecating man sitting on his red bench reading a book or writing a diary.

a refugee, whom the public called simply Sir Alfred, studied otherwise in Great Britain from 1973 to 1977 when he returned to Iran. Claiming to be persecuted for taking part in protests against the Iranian government during his studies, he sought political asylum in a number of European countries, but was rejected.

How did he get stuck at the airport?

He claimed that his mother was of British descent and that was why he wanted to go to Britain. Back in 1988, he left for London via France. During the trip, they allegedly stole his bag with documents, although he still managed to board the plane. However, as he did not have a passport, the British authorities returned him back to France.

Without documents, the French authorities do not let him into the country, so he remains living at the airport as his kind of prisoner.accepted by the airport workers, and he managed to survive all those years thanks to their help. Mehran reportedly never asked for help. He didn't even have to, money for food and supplies was given to him by airport employees and other passengers who would be delighted with his story. He usually ate at McDonald’s, washed in the passenger toilets, and sent clothes for dry cleaning.
He received hundreds of letters of support addressed only to Sir Alfred, Charles de Gaulle Airport, from citizens from all over the world.

Through his lawyer, Marhan asked Belgium to issue new documents, but according to their law at the time, he could only obtain documents if he appeared there in person. Of course, he couldn't do that, because he wasn't allowed to leave the airport

Finally, in 1999, the Belgian government sent Mehran documents, but he was still not happy. He was convinced that they were fake and that the bureaucracy was once again playing cruelly with him. He claimed that the documents had the wrong name written on them so he remained at the terminal demanding that new documents be issued to him under the name of Sir Alfred Mehran.- He is too scared to leave this "balloon" in which he has lived for so long. The fact that he finally got the papers for him was a big shock, as if he had just fallen off his horse. He no longer knew where to go - he told the New York Times in 1999. Philippe Bargain, medical director of the airport.

Mehran continued to live there until 2006 when he was hospitalized for an unknown illness. His acquaintances used to say that his psyche was affected by years of life at the airport and that over time he began to get lost. A year later, he was released from the hospital and placed in a hotel near the airport.

Although the French granted him free movement within the country, he did not travel to London. Since 2008, he has been staying in a hostel in the suburbs of Paris.