The Syrian stranded for months at the airport in Malaysia travels to Canada

The Syrian stranded for months at the airport in Malaysia travels to Canada



The Syrian who spent more than six months stranded at the airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is traveling today to Canada where he had launched a campaign to give him political asylum.

Hassan al Kontar, 36, was arrested in early October by Malaysian police for staying in a no-go zone in Terminal 2 of the Malaysian airport, where the Syrian was unable to leave since March because he did not have a visa.

The Syrian reappeared last night in a video posted on his Twitter account in which he announced he was at the airport in Taiwan waiting to board a flight to the Canadian city of Vancouver.

"I'm sorry I did not give any news in the last two months, it does not matter where I've been or what happened to me, what matters is today and tomorrow, the present and the future," he told Kontar.

"The last eight years have been a hard, long journey, the last ten months have been very hard and cold, I could not have done it without the support and prayers of all, the help of my family, my Canadian friends, my lawyer. Thank you all, I love you, "he added.

Al Kontar, a member of the Druze minority, was stranded at the Kuala Lumpur airport after being returned to Malaysia by the Cambodian authorities when he was trying to go to Ecuador, where he could travel without a visa and wanted to apply for political asylum.

Between 2006 and 2017 he worked in the United Arab Emirates, but problems with his passport and permits forced him to fly to Malaysia with a three-month tourist visa.

The Syrian citizen stated that he did not want to return to his country, plunged into a civil war since 2011, and that he feared being arrested on Syrian soil for having refused to perform military service.

A group of Canadian volunteers presented a petition to their government to host the Syrian as a refugee, who became popular by posting videos and photographs of his life at the airport on Twitter.

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