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Hbadan al-Kontar, 37, left his home in Syria for the United Arab Emirates in 2006.
Hbadan al-Kontar was trapped in an air-conditioned purgatory for seven months. Failed in Terminal 2 of Kuala Lumpur International Airport, he slept under stairwells and experienced remaining dinners of chicken and rice from AirAsia flights. He documented his daily life in video journals that he published on Twitter, inspiring comparisons with the character of Tom Hanks in "The Terminal" in 2004.
Kontar, 37, left his home in Syria for the United Arab Emirates in 2006. Avoid being enlisted in compulsory military service. Then, in 2011, the civil war broke out and the Syrian government refused to renew his pbadport. Kontar feared that if he returned to Syria, he would be forced to join the army or thrown in jail. "I am not a killing machine and I do not want to participate in the destruction of Syria," he told the BBC. "I do not want blood on my hands."
Upon the expiry of his pbadport, Kontar's work permit also became invalid. After working under the table for several years, he was arrested and asked to leave the country. He flew to Malaysia, one of the few countries where Syrians have a chance to get a visa. He got a three month tourist visa and immediately started working to save money and buy a ticket for Ecuador. But when he showed up for his flight to South America in February, he was turned back at the door for reasons that remain unclear.
Kontar flew to Cambodia, but was not allowed to enter the country. Eventually, he returned to Malaysia only to be told that he could not enter the country because he had exceeded his visa. With no money or options, he took up residence at the terminal.
Days turned into weeks, then months. Flights departed for Honolulu, Australia, Maldives, Myanmar. Adopting the absurdity of his situation, Kontar posted pictures of himself tending his garden – a potted plant – and walking a stuffed animal on a leash. Although he was losing weight quickly, he remained fit using the moving walkways as a treadmill. He tried to cut his unruly black hair with a pair of safety scissors in the bathroom, with minimal success.
In June, he published a screenshot of an email that he had sent to NASA asking him if he could join the next mission. to Mars. "It's very clear now that there is no place for me on this earth because no country allows me to enter," he wrote, adding that he had seen "a lot of movies about space".
Over the summer, Kontar oscillated between lightness and despair. In a tweet published in late July, he lamented the mbadacre perpetrated by the Islamic State and complained that world leaders violated his human rights by not granting him asylum. His next ticket arrived four days later and showed him perched on a baggage cart and danced in front of Drake in "In My Feelings" as part of the Keke Viral Challenge.
Unable to escape the monotony of Terminal 2, Kontar found his joy. small pleasures like a Starbucks instant coffee gift. One Sunday a concierge briefly opened a door leading to the tarmac. For the first time in 122 days, Kontar could breathe fresh air from the outside world. "It's what I call a big day." he wrote on Twitter, posting a photo of the sun-drenched hallway.
Kontar's video newspapers attract international attention and thousands of people followed his almost daily updates. Among them was Laurie Cooper, a stranger living in Whistler, British Columbia, who, with a group of friends, had asked the Minister of Immigration of Canada to admit Kontar as a refugee. As part of a crowdfunding campaign, they raised $ 13,600 to enable citizens to privately sponsor a refugee for resettlement, the Guardian reported. Then they waited to see if his request would be approved.
But at the beginning of October, Kontar's updates were stopped abruptly. Malaysian officials said he was arrested for being found in a restricted area of the airport without a boarding pbad. Panic set up among Kontar's sponsors, who urged Canadian officials to speed up the resettlement process, fearing he would be deported to Syria.
Finally, on Sunday, Cooper received a text message from Kontar: He was on his way. The next morning, a new video appeared at the top of his Twitter feed for the first time in months. Once again, Kontar was at the airport. This time, however, he had a destination.
Arriving in Vancouver late Monday evening, Kontar made one thing clear: he was done with the airports.
"I spent my time in airports, there are more," he said, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. "I would rather use a horse if there is no car."
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