HASSAN AL KONTAR

Regular Guy Turned Extreme Airport Layover Specialist

Hassan Al Kontar is a Syrian refugee who lived in the Kuala Lumpur Airport in Malaysia for 8 months. He lived in exile of Syria since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, first in the United Arab Emirates, then deported to Malaysia. He was finally resettled in Canada in late 2018.

In March of 2018, Hassan Al Kontar—a regular guy working a regular job in the United Arab Emirates—didn’t know he was about to be stuck in an airport for eight months, or that the Twitter account he hardly used would be his ticket to freedom. Hassan, born in Syria, left his home country in 2006, lost his work permit after the Syrian civil war started, and had to leave the UAE in 2016. Fearing violence, imprisonment, and possibly death if he returned to Syria, Hassan tried to find refuge in Cambodia and Ecuador. He got stuck in a Malaysian airport for eight months before finally immigrating to Canada with the help of friends and family.

Hassan Al Kontar grew up in Syria as a member of the Druze religious minority. When the Syrian civil war broke out, he happened to be working as an insurance marketing manager in the United Arab Emirates. He stayed in the UAE for as long as he could, but when his work visa expired, Hassan knew he could not return to Syria. He was wanted for dodging military conscription more than a decade ago, and as a Druze, he was afraid he would be targeted for violence by one of the warring factions. He tried to stay in the UAE illegally, but was caught, arrested, and deported in 2016. At that time, Malaysia was one of the only countries that allowed Syrians to enter without visas, permitting them to stay for three months. Hassan stayed for three months in Malaysia, and from there he tried to get to Turkey. He was denied. He tried to get to Cambodia, but was denied. He tried to get to Ecuador, but was denied. When he couldn’t board the plane to Ecuador, he was advised that if he left the airport, Malaysian officials were liable to send him back to Syria. That was how he got stuck in the transit area of the Kuala Lumpur Airport in Malaysia.

Hassan had never really done social media before the airport, but he knew that if he was going to survive, he had to use the tools at his disposal: his phone, and his sense of humor. Hassan began posting videos on Twitter. He crocheted, walked his “pet,” a stuffed animal named Miss Crimson, and talked about his life: his hopes, his fears, and what he had to do to survive. There were no restaurants in his part of the airport, so he lived off of leftover airplane meals he got from airline staff. He showered in a disabled toilet. He slept under a stairwell. And, most importantly: he found allies.

While Hassan was stuck in the airport, a woman named Laurie Cooper found his Twitter feed, and decided to try to get him to Canada. Laurie lives in Whistler, British Columbia, and has been portrayed as “the little old lady in a log cabin with a cat,” an image she is happy with, because she wants people to know that anyone can make a difference. With the help of Andrew Brouwer and Stephen Watt, Laurie raised over $20,000 to sponsor Hassan. Hassan calls Laurie, Andrew and Stephen the Three Musketeers.

Hassan ended up spending two months in Malaysian detention before he finally got on a plane to Canada. They took his phone and his glasses away, and Hassan was not sure if his Three Musketeers could push through the legal red tape and get him out before the Malaysian officials deported him back to Syria. Sponsorship to Canada typically takes years. The Musketeers lobbied the Canadian and Malaysian government, and with the help of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, Hassan Al Kontar landed in Vancouver, BC in October, 2018, and the first thing he did was give Laurie Cooper a big hug.

Hassan lives in Whistler now, doing interviews and trying to raise awareness of refugee issues. He is organizing a refugee resettlement program called Operation Not Forgotten, which is currently raising money to free 250 refugees who are being held on two islands near Australia. Hassan hopes to get them to Canada, just like the Musketeers got him to Canada.