Attempts were then made to have new documents issued from Belgium, but the authorities there would do so only if Nasseri presented himself in person. In 1995, the Belgian authorities granted permission for him to travel to Belgium, but only if he agreed to live there under the supervision of a social worker. Nasseri refused this on the grounds of wanting to enter the UK as originally intended.
For most travelers, an airport is a place of transience — a corridor between one life and the next. But for Nasseri, Charles de Gaulle became a world of permanence. Inside the artificial light, the endless announcements, and the rhythm of departing flights, he built a fragile sense of identity. Observers often described his life as tragic, but Nasseri himself rejected that label. He once told a journalist, “I am safe here. Nobody chases me. Nobody tells me to leave. The world passes by, and I am part of it.”
