“Sir Alfred de Roissy”, Iranian homeless refugee and hero of Spielberg, died at terminal 2F of Paris CDG

Mehran Karimi Nasseri died of natural causes this Saturday, a few weeks after returning to settle in the Paris airport where he had lived for more than 18 years.

Mehran Karimi Nasseri, an Iranian political refugee who lived for more than 18 years at Paris Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport died there on Saturday. His life inspired director Steven Spielberg for his film “The Terminal” and Tom Hanks played him on screen in 2004.

Mehran Karimi Nasseri, better known as Sir Alfred, died a natural death shortly before noon on Saturday at Terminal 2F, an airport source told AFP. After spending the money received for the film and living in a home in Paris, he returned to the airport for a few weeks. Several thousand euros were found on him.

Born in 1945 in Iran, Mehran Karimi Nasseri had taken up residence in Roissy in November 1988, after a long journey to search for his mother, which had taken him to London, Berlin and Amsterdam.  Each time, he had been expelled by the authorities, for lack of being able to present papers. In 1999, he obtained refugee status in France and settled in Charles De Gaulle airport.

The contract with Spielberg was signed in 2001 for a few tens of thousands of dollars which enabled him to move to a home. However, he returned to CDG airport a few weeks ago.