SEPANG, April 12 — Hassan al-Kontar, 36, has been unable to leave the transit area of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 since he was last deported to Malaysia in March.
Now desperate with no end in sight, the Syrian national has taken to making friends with the officials as his last resort.
“I don’t want to make anyone’s life difficult, I never wanted to be famous for this,” he told Malay Mail through a social media app.
“But now I need to find a way to leave and I don’t know what to do, I am trying to make friends with everyone.”
For Hassan, returning to Syria is not an option, as he fears he will be caught in violence in the strife-torn nation.
“I don’t want to go home as I don’t want to be used as a weapon to destroy and hurt,” said Hassan.
A source working closely with the Immigration Department at the airport confirmed that Hassan has been stranded at the airport for 37 days.
“We know about him, but he needs to go back to Syria,” said the source.
“We understand that this is a difficult time for him, but it was wrong of him to have gone to Cambodia, now he is in a situation that will be difficult to solve.
“We also don’t want him to make it seem like it is Malaysia’s fault,” the source added.
It was reported that Hassan first entered Malaysia in January 2017 and overstayed a three-month visa-free period after being deported from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) when he lost his job and work visa there in 2011.
Hassan said he was left without a valid passport after the Syrian embassy in the UAE refused him renewal.
He was previously working in the UAE for several years in the marketing and energy industry.
He also tried to fly to Ecuador, but the airline refused to board him. Hassan later tried to enter Cambodia, but was deported back to Kuala Lumpur again in his latest saga.
Hassan is currently surviving on airline food, and is unsure how much longer he will have to stay in the airport.
In a report by Reuters, the United Nations Refugee agency confirmed meeting Hassan and that it had reached out various authorities regarding his plight.
