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Witness History: The man who lived in an airport

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The man who lived in an airport

23/03/2023 GMT

BBC World Service - Witness History, The man who lived in an airport

From 1988, Mehran Karimi Nasseri, from Iran, spent 18 years living in a Paris airport

From 1988, Mehran Karimi Nasseri, from Iran, spent 18 years living in Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, as he was caught in diplomatic limbo.

In 1988, Mehran Karimi Nasseri, from Iran, flew into Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris intending to transfer onto a flight to London. 

But he wasn’t allowed to board, as he didn’t have a passport. 

Caught in diplomatic limbo, he ended up staying at the airport for 18 years. 

Rachel Naylor speaks to his biographer, Andrew Donkin, who spent nearly three weeks with him at his ‘home’, in the departures lounge of Terminal 1.

(Photo: Mehran Karimi Nasseri on his red bench at the airport in 2004. Credit: Eric Fougere via Getty Images)

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