Stranded for Months at Malaysia Airport, a Syrian Refugee Is Arrested

For seven months, Hassan al-Kontar, a Syrian refugee, has been posting videos to social media documenting his life stranded at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia.

Kontar, who had been working abroad, could not return home because he objected to serving in the military in Syria, a country in the midst of a brutal civil war. He eventually traveled to Malaysia where he thought he could travel onward and seek asylum. But after being turned back in repeat attempts to leave the country, he was stuck.

This week, Kontar’s ordeal took another turn with his arrest by the Malaysian police, a move that has set off fears among rights groups that he could be forcibly returned to Syria.

Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali, the director-general of the Immigration Department of Malaysia, told local journalists that Kontar, 37, had been staying in a restricted area, according to The Star, a Malaysian news outlet.

“Flight passengers with boarding passes at the boarding area are supposed to get on their flight, but this man did not do so,” Mustafar said at a news conference Tuesday, a day after Kontar’s arrest.

It is unclear what prompted the authorities to act now, after Kontar had been effectively living in the terminal for seven months. A lawyer for Kontar said he could not confirm what, if any, charges his client may face.

The United Nations refugee agency said it was working with Malaysian authorities to “get a better understanding of the circumstances.”

“We were previously in touch with Mr. Kontar and provided offers of support and assistance,” Charlie Yaxley,a spokesman for the agency, said by email. “He subsequently registered with us, before being arrested and removed from Kuala Lumpur airport.”

The forcible return of refugees or asylum-seekers to a country where they are liable to face persecution is prohibited by international law. But Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which sets international standards for their treatment.

On Wednesday, Amnesty International called for Kontar to be given protections under international law and demanded that the U.N. refugee agency be given access to him.

“It would be abhorrent to see him deported to Syria, given the critical situation there and the clear risks to his own safety,” said Rachel Chhoa-Howard, Amnesty International’s Malaysia researcher.

A day before Kontar was removed from the airport, he posted a video to his Twitter account that showed a series of photos from his childhood to present day, calling it “My Life Journey in Photos.”

Originally from Sweida, in southwestern Syria, Kontar has not been back home since 2008. He was living in the United Arab Emirates when the Syrian civil war began in 2011.

Kontar could not return to Syria to renew his passport because he was unwilling to serve in its military. When he tried to renew it at the Syrian Embassy in the United Arab Emirates, he was denied. Without a passport, Kontar could not obtain a work visa and he was eventually arrested in the UAE.

The narrative gets murkier from here: Kontar eventually renewed his Syrian passport — how he did so remains unclear — and he flew to Malaysia. There, he tried to travel to Cambodia and Ecuador, but he was denied for reasons that are not clear.

In one of his first videos from the airport, Kontar said he felt “unwanted, rejected” as a Syrian refugee, unable to return home or go anywhere else.

“Its so difficult,” Kontar said in March as he spoke into the camera. “I’m just counting days here, there’s no hope.”

At the airport, he adapted his daily life and documented it extensively through his videos. He showed clips of brushing his teeth, trimming his hair and washing himself in one of the public bathrooms. He slept on a mattress on the floor. He celebrated his birthday alone in the terminal, and this summer missed his younger brother’s wedding. He got by on food donations from travelers and airport snacks.

Kontar also expressed dismay over his dealings with the U.N. refugee agency, saying the organization had not done enough to help him. In an August video, Kontar said a lack of action had “extended inhuman living conditions in the terminal.”

But it was not all hopeless.

Kontar passed the time reading, knitting and listening to music. He made jokes at his own expense and reflected on his situation. He even posted a video in August that featured him and an airport employee dancing the Kiki challenge.

He has also tried to obtain asylum status in Canada, where a group has gathered thousands of dollars to sponsor his application. That application is still being processed.