From 1988 to 2006, employees and patrons of the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris... ...grew accustomed to an unusual, but
increasingly familiar, sight. Amid the stacks of luggage being wheeled across terminals... ...travelers spending layovers in restaurants and bars... ...and gift shops filled with overpriced souvenirs... ...a lone man, hiding in plain sight, lived on a red bench in the pre-departures lounge... ...of France's largest international airport
for nearly two decades. Sir Alfred's life inside the Charles de Gaulle airport unfolded... ...through a tragic series of misfortunes and self-sabotage. His name, like his backstory, was ever-evolving. Giving those who attempted to liberate him an impossible task. Disowned by both family and country... ...all proof of identity either lost or stolen... ...denied entry into Paris through the airport
exit... ...and unable to fly to a different destination... Sir Alfred was stuck in a perpetual limbo of both coming and going... ...a place he remained for 18 years. This is the story of Sir Alfred Mehran of Terminal One. When Alfred Mehran arrived at the Charles de Gaulle airport on August 26, 1988... ...he was a soft-spoken man in his early 40s... ...eager to catch a flight to the United Kingdom... ...where he hoped to meet his biological mother for the first time. As he boarded the flight, along with several
suitcases filled with his essential possessions... ... Alfred didn't expect he'd be
returning to the pre-departures lounge of Charles de Gaulle mere hours later. Or that it would be there he would watch the world transform around him... ...new technologies arriving and fading away... ...entire nations collapsing and
reforming. Experiencing it all through newspaper articles and fleeting fragments of overheard conversations. When he arrived at the Heathrow Airport
in London, he failed to produce a passport... ...or any other identifying information to the immigration representative. "They'd be stolen," he claimed. Alfred was detained... ...and then put back on a plane to Charles de Gaulle. He was initially arrested by airport authorities for attempted unlawful entry
into the country. They ultimately determined his residence inside the airport violated no laws... ...but they were unable to permit him to enter Paris without proof of who he was or where he was from. And his plight would remain until Alfred himself was able to provide the necessary documentation. Alfred decided, at least momentarily, to settle into Terminal One... ...a bustling part of the pre-departures lounge which resembled a shopping center. There was a McDonald's, an electronics store, the entrance to a hotel... ...and hundreds of people, all too
preoccupied with their own travel plans to notice him. Amidst it all, Alfred found
a red cushioned bench near a window... ...which overlooked an outside fountain--a view that would become achingly familiar. As days turned into weeks and
weeks into months, Alfred became a part of the Charles de Gaulle landscape. The chime of the intercom which accompanied flight announcements... ...he heard hundreds
of times a day. At night, he curled up on his red bench... ...his blue jacket serving as a blanket. He'd wake up early before the airport became swarming with passengers... ...to maintain basic hygiene in the terminal bathroom. He made friends with a few airport employees, such as those at McDonald's... ...which provided nearly all of
his meals. Occasionally, people who knew of a situation would supply him with
toiletries, clothes, meal tickets, and money. And he would deposit what he didn't immediately need into a savings account... ...which he'd open with the airport post office. He kept his mind from dwelling on the uncertainty of his situation by reading. Airport employees would regularly see Sir Alfred's unmistakable scalp poking above a rectangle of newspaper... ...surrounded by plumes of pipe smoke. To anyone who would listen, Alfred would explain that his home country of Iran had expelled him... ...his family had abandoned him. He was all alone, a stateless enigma the world simply wished to forget. By the following year, Alfred had saved up enough money to... ...purchase another plane ticket to London. Despite having failed to solve his identification dilemma, Alfred decided once again to test his luck. And once again he was denied by
Heathrow immigration... ...and sent back to Paris where he was
detained, arrested, and eventually returned to Charles de Gaulle. Deportation was not an option, as there was no birth country on record to which he could be deported. Settling back into his red bench, Sir Alfred resigned to the fact that this would be his home for the indefinite future. It wasn't where he belonged but it was the only place he was allowed. But who was Sir Alfred? And how far back
to the roots of his misfortune stretch? And was he a victim of bureaucratic
circumstance or his own mind? Born with the name Mehran Karimi Nasseri,
Sir Alfred enjoyed an affluent upbringing in Iran. His father was a doctor who worked for the Anglo-Iranian oil company... ...providing a comfortable life for his wife and six children. But all this was upturned, Mehran states, after his father's death in 1972. His mother revealed that she was not actually his mother... ...that Alfred was the product of an affair his father had had with a Scottish nurse. Mehran's illegitimacy was a secret the family had closely guarded, due to adultery being a capital offense in Iran during the 20th century. With no claim to his father's inheritance and his sense of identity shaken... ...Alfred, a college-educated man in his 20s, sought to leave Iran and the family who'd betrayed him. For a couple years, he lived in Bradford, England. There, he enrolled in graduate courses in economics, becoming involved in political demonstrations... ...while receiving a stipend from the woman he'd previously known as his mother. But after two years, the money stopped coming in, leaving Mehran with no choice but to return home. When he arrived in Iran, Mehran alleges he was arrested and imprisoned by the SAVAK secret police... ...who interrogated, tortured, and expelled him from the country... ...based on evidence that he had participated in protests against the Iranian Shah. Maran was given refugee status by the United Nations Committee on Human Rights... ...and granted travel documents which would allow him to pass freely between countries which had signed the Geneva Convention. Mehran lived a restless, nomadic life around Europe for several years before setting his sights on Scotland. It was there he hoped to find his biological mother, the only family he believed he had. His first attempt to enter the United
Kingdom from Paris was by boat... ...and it was during this time at a nearby train station, Mehran claims his briefcase... ...containing essential documents such as
his passport and refugee papers was stolen. After being arrested for attempted unlawful entry, a recurring theme in Mehran's story, he decided to try again... ... this time by plane via the Charles de Gaulle airport. And it was here his journey came to a halt. By the early 90s, Mehran had attracted the attention of local press... ...and the man who lived in Charles de Gaulle airport, as journalists would dub him... ...began to regularly receive letters, postcards, and care packages from supporters. With no address, his mail would be forwarded to Dr. Philippe Bargain, the Airport physician... ...whose attention to Mehran's situation
placed him into a de facto intermediary role. "His physical health is fine. His
psychological state of mind is less good." "Please let Mr. Nasseri know that many
people are concerned for his well-being and that we feel bad about his plight." ...read one of the many letters he received, often with cash included. Dr. Philippe Bargain was joined by human rights lawyer, Christian Bourguet... ...who would keep Mehran from facing further arrests due to his misfortune. Bourguet would even attempt to recover his stolen documents, But unbeknownst to Bargain and Bourguet,
Mehran was undergoing a personal transformation. Based on a letter he received which mistakenly addressed him as "Sir Alfred"... ...Mehran had begun a reinvention of himself. Where Mehran Karimi Nasseri had been
shunned and rejected, Sir Alfred was a local celebrity... ...whose newspaper articles
and letters from supporters sat in large, ever-growing stacks near his red bench. He began introducing himself as "Sir Alfred." A harmless change if left on its own, but Mehran's transformation wouldn't end there. And as Dr. Bargain and Christian Bourguet would soon learn... ...it was a transformation thorough enough to render their efforts useless... ...and increase Sir Alfred's stay in Charles de Gaulle by nearly 10 years. By the mid-90s, people across Europe had
begun to take notice of the quiet man who had made a life for himself inside Charles de Gaulle. His situation was novel, tragic... ...and for writers, artists, and
filmmakers looking for inspiration, a potential subject. A 1998 opera titled "Flight" tells the story of a character named "The Refugee"... ...who was stuck at an airport, unable to enter the country or fly elsewhere due to his missing passport. A French independent comedy titled "Lost
in Transit," with the protagonist who... ...misplaces his passport, becoming stranded in a Paris airport, debuted in 1993 to lukewarm reviews. But Sir Alfred's situation wasn't limited to fictionalizations. In 1999, a husband-and-wife team
of documentarians went to Paris in order interview Mehran... ...for a short documentary titled "Sir Alfred of Charles de Gaulle Airport." The documentary showcases a quiet, introverted Mehran... ...reading and incessantly writing in his journal, while completely at ease in front of the camera. And through the film's interviews, the extent of Mehran Karimi Nasseri's transformation... ...into the British-born Sir Alfred is revealed. A reinvention so absolute that he refused to speak his native language of Persian... ...scolding those who addressed him in anything other than English. The denial of his Iranian heritage
extended to nearly every aspect of his life. When asked what documentation he
had to prove he was born in Europe, he became evasive... ...stating, "It's just information." When asked how he qualified
for the title "sir," a knighthood bestowed upon British citizens of high regard, he replied... But perhaps the most startling demonstration of commitment to his new persona came in July of 1999... ...after Christian Bourguet, who, at this point, had been handling Alfred's case for nearly a decade... ...had finally located his missing
papers. Despite claims of them being stolen, the lawyer discovered that Sir Alfred had mailed them to Belgium authorities... ...while en route to London
during his first attempt to enter the country. Sir Alfred's reasoning for this
is unclear. When questioned about it, he dismissed it as "a moment of folly." "We had a little celebration," airport doctor Philippe Bargain told the Irish Times, "but Alfred wasn't happy. He thought the papers were fake." Alfred's insistence that the papers didn't belong to him was based on two irredeemable complaints. His name was listed as "Mehran Karimi Nasseri," not "Sir Alfred." His birthplace was listed as Iran. Alfred wanted it noted that he was born
in Britain; he would also accept Sweden or the United States. With the only evidence to support these biographical changes being anecdotal from Sir Alfred himself, he was asking the impossible. And it's likely he knew it. Bargain and Bourguet were beside themselves with frustration. They'd been working on Sir Alfred's case pro bono for years... ..and having solved his problems,
Sir Alfred needed only to claim the papers... ...in order to resume the life he'd
put on old eleven years earlier. But as far as Sir Alfred was concerned, he was an entirely different person from the... ...man who'd entered Charles de Gaulle in 1988. "Mehran Karimi Nasseri might be free to go (paraphrased)," he stated, "but Sir Alfred is not." But what about his search for his biological
mother? "He's talked about a for so many years," Bourguet told the Sunday Times. "I thought at last he'd be able to go to Scotland and search for her properly." And after 11 years inside Charles de Gaulle, killing time on his red bench... ...eating fast food fish sandwiches every day for lunch, didn't he want to go home? Sir Alfred's response was startling. "I'm already home," he said. By the early 2000s, Sir Alfred had become
something of a minor celebrity... ...and independent filmmakers and journalists were no longer the only ones interested in his story. The man who had been living in Charles de Gaulle for 15 years had caught the attention of Steven Spielberg. DreamWorks acquired the rights to his life story for a film titled "The Terminal." Tom Hanks would play a character loosely based on Sir Alfred... ...a stateless refugee, stuck in an airport,
eating fast food, bathing in the public restroom sink... ...sleeping on a bench, caught in a bureaucratic glitch that held him hostage inside an international transit lounge. But the complexities of Sir Alfred's situation were much more paradoxical. The bizarre nuances Mehran's identity crisis, the fact that he could, in actuality, leave whenever he wanted... ...didn't make it into the Hollywood
rendition, which was flattened into a romantic comedy... ...that occasionally bordered on slapstick. When the film was released in mid-2004, a popular photo opportunity was Sir Alfred posing next to the poster advertised in his home of sixteen years. Some photographers even managed to capture the absurdity that he would likely never have the opportunity to see the movie. Publicity surrounding Sir Alfred during the film's release was at an all-time high... ...as people wanted to meet the man who'd inspired the film. "Did you know that a man has been living in
Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris for more than sixteen years?" "He has no possessions, no home, no ticket, and no money (false)." "And now Hollywood has used his story as
inspiration for a new film." Alfred's story the media was the
same as it had been since the beginning. He was expelled from Iran, his papers
containing his true identity were lost... ...and now he waited in Terminal One of
Charles de Gaulle for their return. "He says that he's still, 16 years on, holding out for the return of his papers." But the people most familiar with this situation knew the truth. The only person keeping him inside Charles de Gaulle was himself. His situation deepened when it was
revealed that DreamWorks had paid Sir Alfred a large sum to acquire the rights to his story. The exact figure differs among sources,
but appears to be somewhere between $175K-$500K. Sir Alfred simply deposited the money into his airport post office savings account where it remained out of sight and out of mind. While "The Terminal" bore only a situational resemblance to Mehran Karimi Nasseri... ...those who wished to experience his story firsthand would only have to wait a few months. In September of that year, Alfred published his autobiography... ...which he had spent years writing on his red bench, aptly titled "Terminal Man." The book was co-authored by graphic novelist Andrew Duncan, published by a British division of Penguin Random House... ...and would be printed in multiple languages and editions. Reader reviews were mixed, with reactions ranging from fascination and pity, to outrage... ...both at Sir Alfred for his stubbornness, and on his behalf... ...for the bureaucratic potholes which
allowed his statelessness in the first place. It was clear readers wanted to empathize with Sir Alfred, but their empathy was cut with frustration at his inaction. Mehran would hold author signings from his red bench, since people who wanted an autograph knew exactly where to find him. "Terminal Man" has been out of print for some time... ...with only a few used copies circulating online, often priced to reflect its rarity, making it something of a collector's item. By the mid-2000s, Sir Alfred had enough money to begin a new life, and with the paperwork... ...that he needed only to claim as his own within constant reach, his problems were now internal rather than external. Desperate attempts to persuade him to leave... ...to resume his life, only resulted in exasperation. As Dr. Bargain told the Baltimore Sun, he had offered to take Sir Alfred on vacation with his family to Brittany, France, but he refused. Many began to wonder: was his newfound international celebrity to beguiling that he was willing to remain on his red bench indefinitely for fear of losing it? If his recovered paperwork and several hundred thousand dollars couldn't nudge Alfred through the airport exit and into the world... ...what could? And was his insistence that he was still a hapless prisoner of the airport, despite overwhelming contradictory evidence... ...integral to the "Sir Alfred" persona he'd
created for himself? The general assumption was that the trauma Mehran had experienced throughout his adulthood... ...had caused him to retreat into a fantasy
reality, one in which he was now reluctant to escape. But that very same year, in September of 2004... ...a filmmaker would publish an investigative piece for The Guardian which would call into question... ...the few remaining details of
Sir Alfred's backstory that had yet to be disproven. 2004 would be one of the most noteworthy
years for Sir Alfred. With the release of "The Terminal" and subsequent publication of his autobiography... ...more and more people began turning their attention to the man who lived inside Charles de Gaulle for 16 years. This proved both good and bad for Sir Alfred. He clearly enjoyed the spotlight, but as more attention came to a situation, the less control he had over the narrative. The cracks in a story had been showing for years. But it wasn't until filmmaker Paul Berczeller's investigative profile of Sir Alfred, titled "The Man Who Lost His Past"... ...did these cracks widen a swallow Alfred's story whole. Alfred had been a long-time subject of Berczeller, who, earlier in the decade... ...had spent nearly a year at Charles de Gaulle, in order to film what he referred to as a "low-budget arthouse feature"... ...titled "Here to Where," detailing the life of Sir Alfred in what IMDB has labeled a mock documentary. Berczeller had hoped that the conclusion of his film... ...would be to convince Sir Alfred to
finally leave Charles de Gaulle... ...with the final cinematic shot being the two of them leaving together through the airport exit. But just as those who had tried
before, and since, Berczeller found Sir Alfred immovable. Overshadowed by other films dedicated to
Sir Alfred debuting around the same time... ...very few people have seen "Here to Where." But Berczeller's contribution to the story of Sir Alfred is arguably the most illuminating. With the publication of "The Man Who Lost His Past," Berczeller had done what none had done before him. He'd made contact with Mehran's family back in Iran. And he'd asked them the questions many had been wondering for years. If Sir Alfred had come from such a large family, why hadn't any of his five siblings attempted to help him? His location, after all, was no mystery. It turns out, they had. On multiple occasions throughout the early 90s, family and friends visited Sir Alfred at Charles de Gaulle. But instead of their brother, Mehran Karimi Nasseri... ...they found the British-born Sir Alfred,
who simply refused to acknowledge them. He pretended they were complete strangers. The second revelation came when Berczeller had asked after Alfred's expulsion from Iran... ...his arrest and torture at the hands of Iran's SAVAK domestic security force for his protest... ...against Mohammad Reza Pahlavi . But perhaps the most startling of all was the debunking of Sir Alfred's reason for leaving Iran in the first place... ...the illegitimacy of his birth. Berczeller couldn't contact Sir Alfred's Iranian mother... ... the woman who'd reportedly shunned him and sent him on his European journey in search of his birth mother... ...because she passed away years earlier. But according to Sir Alfred's siblings, she
was heartbroken at the accusations. Mehran, after all, was her biological son
and she never told him otherwise. Many had long speculated this aspect of Sir Alfred's story was fabricated... ...regardless of how fundamental to his residence at Charles de Gaulle it was. The glaring counter-evidence, his distinctly
middle-eastern appearance, couldn't be hidden. With the foundations of Alfred's
origin story disproven, the question arose... What, exactly, was he doing there in
the first place? And why wouldn't he leave? As Philippe Bargain told the
Sunday Times, "He is completely lucid and functional... ...but he is pathological. To be honest, he'll probably die here." By 2006 Sir Alfred had lived in Terminal One of Charles de Gaulle for 18 years, nearly a third of his life. He'd watched ever-changing fashion trends, significant scientific leaps forward... ...and the ushering in of a new millennium... ...all from his red bench, scattered with newspapers and cigarette butts. Many wondered if Mehran still fostered plans of one day leaving... ...would be be mentally equipped to re-enter a transformed society of which he had only vicarious exposure. As Dr. Bargain told the New York Times, he believed Alfred would need to be weaned from the airport, like an addict. The young man who'd first arrived in
1988 had grown gaunt, sallow, and gray. As a semi-permanent fixture of the Charles de Gaulle pre-departures interior, he reportedly... ...hadn't stepped outside since 1999, where
he witnessed a total solar eclipse. As many had long speculated, Sir Alfred
would never leave the airport of his own volition. Terminal One became a place where he could write his own history, become someone else entirely. Leaving would be an admission that he was, and had always been, Mehran Karimi Nasseri from Iran... ...an identity he no longer wished to carry. But in July of 2006, Sir Alfred was taken from Charles de Gaulle by ambulance. A health emergency beyond the resources of the airport medical center... ...required his relocation to a nearby hospital. The exact details of Sir Alfred's condition
weren't reported and therefore left to speculation. Unlike his mental health, the airport doctor had reported over the years that his physical health was normal... ...despite a diet consisting almost exclusively of McDonald's. But a clue can be found in a book review of "Terminal Man," where a traveler passing through Charles de Gaulle... ...in 2005 spoke with Sir Alfred after purchasing a copy of his book. Sir Alfred disclosed that he had a brain tumor... ...and was grateful for the sale because he would need it for his medical bills. Several photos and videos also feature a growth on the top of his head that appeared to grow larger over the years. One can't know for sure the reason for his medical emergency. But once Sir Alfred had been relocated for treatment, his stint inside Charles de Gaulle had finally come to an end. Sir Alfred remained in the hospital for several months... ...eventually being transferred to a local
shelter provided by Paris's Emmaus solidarity movement in early 2007. His red bench hovel near the window overlooking the fountain was disassembled... ...the traces of an individual living there for nearly two decades erased. The peculiar story of Sir Alfred's life inside Terminal One... ...while arguably the most high-profile case, is not the only one of its kind. Across the world, many others have experienced their own lengthy layovers, with several cases still ongoing. But unlike Mehran, most are doing so involuntarily. The list of such instances is long... ...including high-profile figures such as
American whistleblower Edward Snowden ...who spent over a month inside an
International Airport in Moscow... ...awaiting asylum after fleeing the United
States. A refugee named Hassan Al Kontar was stuck in a Malaysian airport for seven months... ...after being exiled from Syria following
his refusal to join the military. Due to an expired visa, Kontar was stranded in Kuala Lumpur International from March to October of 2018... ...before being granted asylum in Canada. Kontar made the most of his situation by posting daily pictures and videos on Twitter to his audience of supporters. The Hassan family, including four small children, were stranded for 50 days inside a Moscow Airport... ...due to allegations of forged visas. A handwritten sign that stated "Please don't touch our things because we are living here" was placed at the borders of their makeshift home. Seeking asylum is among the most common reasons individuals have found themselves trapped. Rejected from entering their country of refuge, unable to return home... ...and with no other options than to remain where they are. A few instances of people living in airports voluntarily have occurred. Denis D'Souza, who reportedly ran away from home as a teenager due to arguments with his stepmother... ...has remained in GRU international in Brazil for the last twenty years. Those who visit Terminal Two of the South Paulo airport will likely see him on his blue bench, McDonald's coffee cup in hand. After being given an ultimatum by his wife and in-laws to either quit smoking and drinking or move out of the house... Wei Jianguo has lived inside Terminal Two of Beijing International Airport for the last ten years. "It's a public place," he said of his new home, "anyone can come." Sir Alfred's motivation for living in Charles de Gaulle is less clear. Dr. Bargain theorized to the Irish Times that Mehran may have originally fled his home country to avoid conscription in the Iran-Iraq war. But his decision to remain, to continuously move the goalposts for leaving... ...acting as both captive and captor, is perplexing As Sir Alfred may have feared, once he was no longer the man inside the airport, the media lost interest. News coverage regarding his current whereabouts is scant. Rumors suggest him to be alive in currently living in Paris, although confirmation from credible sources appears nonexistent. But whatever came of Mehran Karimi Nasseri, he fought long to win the name "Sir Alfred." The identity of a man who could adapt to the white noise of hundreds of people constantly surrounding him. Who would sit at his red bench and watch passengers journey back to their homes, letting go of his desire to do the same. We can only wonder if he took that
identity with him as he entered the city... ...he'd watched from behind his window for
18 years. Or if Mehran Karimi Nasseri left "Sir Alfred" behind in Charles de Gaulle where he belonged.
Uncle Leo?
I'm shocked that French authorities left a mentally ill man at the airport for that long. Can someone explain why, when the papers were found, they didn't just put him on the next plane by force? The police escort people out of countries all the time..
I found this: https://vimeo.com/84123555