Hassan Al Kontar

HASSAN AL KONTAR BIOGRAPHY

Hassan Al Kontar is no stranger to social isolation. Known as the man at the airport the Hassan Al Kontar story starts with him leaving Syria after escaping recruitment from the Syrian army during the civil war in Syria. He made headlines around the world in 2018 when as a syrian refugee he was stranded at an airport for months. He was stranded at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia from 7 March 2018 until his arrest on 1 October 2018 making him an airport prisoner.

While at the airport, he slept wherever he could and ate what he could scrounge. He then spent several weeks in jail in Malaysia before a sponsor from Whistler, B.C., helped him find asylum in Canada. After a long bureaucratic journey, Al Kontar arrived in Canada in November 2018, received his permanent residency and started work with the Canadian Red Cross. It is that work — helping with flood recovery — that took him to Princeton, where he is receiving his Canadian citizenship in Canada in 2023.

Hassan Al Kontar is in exile in Syria since 2011, because he refused to join the Syrian military and could face arrest if returned there. His plight has been compared to Tom Hanks’s character in the film The Terminal (who in turn was inspired by the real-life story of Mehran Karimi Nasseri who lived at 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.

Hassan Al Kontar was born in Al-Suweida, Syria to a Druze family. originally emigrated from Syria to the United Arab Emirates in 2006, to work at an insurance marketing agency. His work permit expired in 2011, the year the Syrian Civil War started. After the Syrian embassy refused to renew his passport. He stayed illegally in the UAE fearing he would be drafted into the war on his return.

In 2017, Hassan Al Kontar was arrested and deported to Malaysia, one of the countries where Syrians are granted visa-free entry. Hassan Al Kontar attempted to go to Ecuador but, for unexplained reasons, Turkish Airlines staff denied him boarding for his flight nor would they refund his ticket. He then attempted to go to Cambodia but was denied entry and sent back to Kuala Lumpur. As his Malaysian tourist visa had expired, he was not allowed to enter the country and remained stranded at the airport in “legal limbo”.

There was some discussion of the Malaysian government offering him re-entry into the country but, with no formal offer, Al Kontar was advised not to because he was waiting for an offer for Canada, the United Kingdom, or France (as implied by one of his Twitter posts). Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and he claimed that he would not be recognized as a legitimate refugee although there are in fact many Syrian refugees in the country.

In 2018, Hassan Al Kontar landed at Vancouver International Airport as a permanent resident of Canada and is expected to start a job in Whistler, British Columbia. Hassan Al Kontar had been privately sponsored for asylum in Canada; Hassan Al Kontar lives with the family of one of his sponsors, media relations consultant Laurie Cooper. Five years on, the Syrian refugee, 41, has now become a Canadian citizen.

Cooper has helped over 30 refugees settle in Canada Al Kontar currently speaks at events about human rights and works at a restaurant. Hassan Al Kontar is currently organizing a refugee resettlement program called Operation Not Forgotten, in which they plan to raise a total of $3.3 million to resettle refugees stranded in Nauru and Manus Island into Canada. The refugees are from countries including Iran, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Iraq while some are stateless.

Having spent eight years of his working life in marketing roles, Hassan Al Kontar has a gift for sharing a compelling story with a broad audience. Hassan is committed to advocating for refugees around the world using the creative, upbeat approach that made him beloved by hundreds of thousands of people. Hassan Al Kontar is driven by a single goal; to do his part in making the world a better place for all.