An Iranian man who called a small section of France’s Charles de Gaulle airport home for nearly 2 decades has died. Merhan Karimi Nasseri went to Europe searching for his mother and lived in Belgium for some years. But he became stuck in legal limbo after being sent to the airport in 1988 from the UK, with court rulings preventing him from entering the country – and from being forced out of the airport. Nasseri was given permission to live in France in 1999, but he stayed at 2F Terminal until a hospital stay in 2006, and then he lived in shelters until recent weeks when he returned to the airport. Nasseri’s story was bought by Steven Spielberg’s production company and made into the 2004 comedy-drama movie The Terminal, starring Tom Hanks. Nasseri was yesterday remembered as a man who spent his days making friends with staff (who gave him access to their facilities), and he passed his time writing in his diary, reading magazines/newspapers and watching travellers.