Syrian man stranded for months arrives in Vancouver
Lived in Malaysian airport with no passport and little hope
A Syrian man who was stranded for seven months at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport arrived in Vancouver on Monday night.
Hassan Al Kontar thanked his friends and his lawyer in a video posted to Twitter for helping him leave Malaysia. He says he videotaped the message at the Taiwan International Airport as he waited to board a flight to Vancouver, which he described as his final destination.
On his Twitter account, Al Kontar says Canadian volunteers gave him hope after he submitted an application for asylum.
A GoFundMe page set up for him by Canadian volunteers raised money for his flight to Canada and living expenses. The fundraising page says the 36-year-old was refused a new Syrian passport in 2012 when he was working in the United Arab Emirates and was facing military service in his home country, which he refused.
Between 2012 and 2017, it says, he was without status in the UAE and lost his job. The fundraising page says he went to Malaysia, where Syrians don’t need a visa, in October 2017.
The page says he was given a document allowing him to stay in Malaysia for three months, although he couldn’t work. He tried unsuccessfully to leave the country and was sent back to Kuala Lumpur, where he remained in the arrivals terminal after he overstayed his visa.
“It was a hard, long journey,” he says on the video posted to Twitter. “The last 10 months it was very hard … I could not do it without the support and prayers from all of you.”
Kontar often shared his thoughts with followers on social media. In June, he wrote, “I’m tired. Tired from this terminal, lonely as a sparrow in the rain.
“Tired of never having a soul to be with or a country I can call home, tired of people being ugly to each other.”
He also celebrated small moments such as the first time in six months when he experienced darkness when some of the lights switched off or getting a breath of fresh air from an open door.
Kontar kept active with exercise and posted pictures of himself, trying to cut his hair and appreciating a cup of coffee.