Kafkaesque exile cleared for take-off
BY ADAM SAGE IN PARIS
The Times of London
July 13, 1999
AN IRANIAN exile who claims to be the son of a Scottish nurse may be
nearing the end of his 11-year wait for a flight out of Paris. Merhan Karimi
Nasseri, 54, known at Charles de Gaulle airport as Sir Alfred, has been
granted refugee status by the Belgian authorities, bringing to an end a
tale that makes Kafka seem simple.
His frail, emaciated frame has been parked on a red plastic seat at
a café in Terminal 1 since 1988. Staff give him money and food,
airport doctors take care of him, the police unofficially protect him and
he is taking a correspondence course. He says he studied at Bradford University
in the 1970s and that his mother was the mistress of an Iranian doctor
in 1945.
His troubles started when he tried to return to Britain in search of
his family after being expelled from Iran as a political opponent of the
Shah. Granted refugee status by Belgium in 1981, he made repeated attempts
to cross the Channel and was turned back every time. In 1983 he lost his
papers on a ferry, leaving him stateless. In 1988 he reached Heathrow but
was sent back to Charles de Gaulle.
Belgium has now given him fresh papers but it is unlikely that he will
be allowed into Britain. He says he would like to go to Brussels to get
a diploma.
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