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Hassan Al Kontar

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Hassan Al Kontar
حسان القنطار
Born (1981-07-13) 13 July 1981 (age 43)[1]
Al-Suweida, Syria
OccupationInsurance marketing manager (2006–12)

Hassan Al Kontar (Arabic: حسان القنطار; 13 July 1981) is a Syrian-born Canadian who was stranded at Kuala Lumpur International Airport from 7 March 2018 until his arrest on 1 October 2018.[2][3][4] He has been in exile from Syria since 2011 because of his refusal to join the Syrian military[5] and could face arrest if returned there.[6] Since November 2018, he resides in British Columbia, Canada.[7]

His plight has been compared to Tom Hanks's character in the film The Terminal,[8] who was inspired by the real-life story of Mehran Karimi Nasseri who lived in France's Charles de Gaulle Airport for 18 years. According to CNN's Becky Anderson, his situation is not "unprecedented" and could become a more common problem for Syrian refugees because many countries will not accept Syrian nationals.[9]

Background

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Al Kontar was born in Al-Suweida, Syria to a Druze family.[10] He has two siblings. His father was a mechanical engineer and his mother was a nurse.[1] He originally emigrated from Syria to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2006, to work as an insurance marketing agent.[11]

While in the UAE, Al Kontar’s work permit expired in 2011, the year the Syrian Civil War broke out. Due to the fact that his request to renew his Syrian passport was denied by the Syrian embassy, he stayed illegally in the UAE out of the fear that he would be drafted into the Syrian Armed Forces at the height of the war.[12] In 2017, Al Kontar obtained a new Syrian passport valid for two years, but he was arrested by Emirati authorities and subsequently deported to Malaysia while trying to renew his expired work permit.[11] Malaysia is one of the few countries where Syrians are granted visa-free entry, although it is not a signatory to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, meaning that he would not be granted refugee status.[13][14] After receiving a 90-day visitor’s permit, Al Kontar stayed in Malaysia for a year, doing scrap work to save up a ticket to Ecuador so he could be reunited with his extended family members there.[15]

In February 2018, Al Kontar purchased a one-way ticket to Quito with stopovers in Istanbul and Bogotá for US$2,300.[16] On 28 February 2018, when he attempted to board the Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul, ground staff at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) denied him boarding and refused to refund his ticket. He then bought another ticket to Phnom Penh and successfully boarded the flight, but was denied entry by Cambodian authorities upon arrival.[11][12] He was then sent back to Kuala Lumpur. As he had overstayed his previous permission to remain in the country, Malaysian authorities refused to allow him to re-enter, and he became stranded at Terminal 2 of the KLIA in "legal limbo".[17]

Life at the airport

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Kuala Lumpur International Airport

Al Kontar slept on chairs or under a stairwell, showered in a disabled toilet and was fed by some airport staff (mostly from AirAsia) who gave him meals.[10] Though his savings dwindled,[18] people offered him money and a woman living in British Columbia started a fundraiser in order to possibly sponsor him to Canada and have enough money to live for at least a year. He has family members in Canada.[19] The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has been trying to provide legal aid.[20]

On his 100th day at the airport in June 2018, he jokingly decided to apply to join a NASA mission to Mars, saying that if he actually had the opportunity to leave Earth and the worst parts of humanity, he would.[21]

On 1 October 2018, Al Kontar was detained by Malaysian authorities for being in a "forbidden area" of the airport. Malaysia's immigration chief, Mustafar Ali, said they would "communicate with the Syrian embassy to facilitate deportation to his home country."[22] However, he later announced that Al Kontar would be sent to an undisclosed third country as the discussion and arrangement is being processed together with the foreign mission in Malaysia.[23] Al Kontar was held in a detention facility for 58 days before the paperwork was finalized by Canadian authorities, which expedited his asylum request.[24]

In September 2018, Arab-Israeli video blogger Nuseir Yassin made a video about Al Kontar, but was unable to visit him because Israeli citizens were not allowed to enter Malaysia.[25] Yassin’s personal friend, Polish citizen Agon Hare, visited Al Kontar on Yassin’s behalf instead.

Asylum and life in Canada

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On 26 November 2018, Al Kontar landed at Vancouver International Airport and was admitted as a permanent resident of Canada. He started a job in Whistler, British Columbia.[26][7] Al Kontar had been privately sponsored for asylum in Canada; he lived with the family of one of his sponsors, media relations consultant Laurie Cooper, who has helped over 30 refugees settle in Canada.[10] Al Kontar currently speaks at events about human rights and works full time for the Canadian Red Cross, giving back to the country that helped him in his time of need.[27]

Since August 2019, Al Kontar has been organizing a refugee resettlement program called Operation Not Forgotten, sponsored by the Refugee Council of Australia and Amnesty International, for which they plan to raise a total of C$3.3 million to resettle off-shore asylum seekers detained by Australia who are stranded in Nauru and Manus Regional Processing Centres into Canada. These refugees are from countries including Iran, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Iraq, while some are stateless.[28]

On 11 January 2023, while residing in Princeton, British Columbia, he was granted Canadian citizenship.[29]

References

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  1. ^ a b Amer, Yasmin (16 April 2019). "A Man Was Stuck In An Airport For Months — But A Stranger Became Determined To Get Him Out". WBUR-FM. Archived from the original on 28 December 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  2. ^ Latiff, Rozanna; Teo, Angie (12 April 2018). "Holding pattern: Syrian 'stuck in transit' in KL for more than a month". Reuters. Archived from the original on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  3. ^ Ahmed, Kaamil (12 April 2018). "'It's not my war': the Syrian man who has spent a month living in Kuala Lumpur airport". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 10 December 2018. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  4. ^ Hennig, Clare (2 January 2019). "'I will always be the man who was stuck at the airport': Refugee wants to help others". CBC. Archived from the original on 1 June 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  5. ^ Perper, Rosie (13 April 2018). "A Syrian man has been trapped in an airport in Malaysia for over a month with nowhere to go". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 26 September 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  6. ^ Chen, Heather (12 April 2018). "Syrian 'stranded at airport' for 37 days". BBC. Archived from the original on 24 April 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  7. ^ a b "Syrian refugee stranded in airport for months is granted asylum in Canada". The Guardian. 26 November 2018. Archived from the original on 28 November 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  8. ^ "Syrian refugee stuck in Malaysia airport for nearly 50 days". ABC News. 24 April 2018. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  9. ^ "Syrian man trapped in airport for over 40 days (video)". CNN. 24 April 2018. Archived from the original on 29 March 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  10. ^ a b c Hodal, Kate (7 January 2019). "'You can feel the love': Syrian who lived in airport on new life in Canada". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 18 September 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  11. ^ a b c Miller, Anna Lekas (13 April 2018). "The Terminal: This Syrian Refugee Has Been Marooned in an Airport for a Month, With No End in Sight". The Intercept. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  12. ^ a b Vichea, Pang (12 April 2018). "Syrian asylum seeker stuck in airport limbo after being denied entry to Cambodia". The Phnom Penh Post. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  13. ^ Palansamy, Yiswaree (12 March 2015). "Malaysia will not sign UN convention on refugees, says minister". Malaymail.com. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  14. ^ Carson, Angela (20 April 2018). "'I don't want to be killed': Syrian refugee stuck in Kuala Lumpur airport seeks safety". Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018 – via asiancorrespondent.com.
  15. ^ . Canadian Broadcasting Corporation https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-the-monday-edition-1.6038621/he-spent-7-months-living-in-an-airport-until-canada-took-him-in-now-he-s-written-a-book-about-it-1.6038622. Retrieved 19 June 2021. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  16. ^ Radan, Radwan (17 April 2018). "One Syrian the world forgot". Arab News. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  17. ^ Erickson, Amanda (12 April 2018). "A Syrian man has been trapped in a Malaysian airport for 37 days, and counting". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 23 April 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  18. ^ Mosbergen, Dominique (14 April 2018). "A Syrian Man Has Been Stranded In A Malaysian Airport Terminal For Weeks". Archived from the original on 9 February 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2018 – via Huff Post.
  19. ^ "Syrian stranded at Malaysia airport says Canadians renewed his hope in humanity". CBC Radio. 13 April 2018. Archived from the original on 30 December 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  20. ^ Robbins, Siobhan (12 April 2018). "Syrian stranded at Malaysian airport for a month". Sky News. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  21. ^ "Syrian refugee trapped in airport for 100 days formally applies to go to Mars". Newsweek. 14 June 2018. Archived from the original on 2 April 2019. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  22. ^ "Syrian Hassan al-Kontar removed from Malaysia airport after months". BBC. 1 October 2018. Archived from the original on 12 October 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  23. ^ Bedi, Rashvinjeet S. (24 October 2018). "Stranded Syrian be sent to another country, but not Syria (Updated)". The Star Online. Archived from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  24. ^ Talmazan, Yuliya (25 January 2019). "Syrian stranded for months at Malaysian airport gets fresh start in Canada". NBC News. Archived from the original on 10 March 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  25. ^ Lay, Belmont (3 October 2018). "Syrian man deported from M'sia highlights problem with Nas Daily's short videos". mothership.sg. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  26. ^ "Syrian man stranded for months at airport in Malaysia arrives in Vancouver". Vancouver Sun. 26 November 2018. Archived from the original on 27 November 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  27. ^ Sciarpelletti, Laura (20 June 2019). "Syrian refugee says Canada's support for the displaced is more important than ever". CBC. Archived from the original on 9 December 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  28. ^ "Hassan al-Kontar: Who is the man trapped in an airport helping now?". BBC. 12 August 2019. Archived from the original on 17 August 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  29. ^ "Syrian refugee stranded at airport for 7 months realizes his dream of Canadian citizenship". CBC. 11 January 2023. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
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