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Mehran Karimi Nasseri photographed at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport in 2005. Photo courtesy of St. Martin /Wikimedia Commons
November 13 (United Nations League) — Inspiring Iranians Stephen Spielberg Made the film “Terminal” after he lived in Roissy de Gaulle Paris airport has been dead at the same airport for 18 years.
Mehran Karimi Nasseri, the inspiration for the 2004 starring film Tom Hankswho began living at the airport in 1988, was in legal and diplomatic trouble over his so-called refugee status after he claimed he was expelled from Iran in 1977 for protesting against the Shah.
Nasseri had been able to travel between the UK and France for years, but was unable to show his passport to British officials while on a ferry from Brussels in 1988. He was forced to return to France but was unable to prove his identity or refugee status and was detained at the airport.
A French court ruled in 1992 that he had entered the country legally and therefore could not be deported from the airport or allowed to enter France. In 1995, Belgian officials offered him the opportunity to live in the country under the supervision of social workers, but he declined.
Nasseri was later granted French and British residency, but he rejected those offers because they listed his nationality as Iranian, not British.
He wrote an autobiography of his experience, which was published in 2004, the same year The Terminal published. Instead of using Nasseri’s story, the film is inspired by his experiences.
Nasseri finally left the airport in July 2006, but returned a few weeks before his death, CNN reports.
Airport officials told CNN that he died of natural causes in the airport’s Terminal 2F.
Officials allegedly found thousands of euros on Nasseri’s body tell the BBC.
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