{UAH} Syrian refugee who was stranded at Malaysia airport for months lands in Canada
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Greeted with a hug from the woman who sponsored him! ❤️
Syrian refugee who was stranded in a Malaysian airport terminal for seven months shares a hug with the woman who sponsored him to come to Canada as he arrives in Vancouver
- Hassan Al Kontar was stranded in Kuala Lumpur International Airport in March
- Malaysian officials had planned to deport him back to his war-torn homeland
- But Canadian Laurie Cooper sponsored him as a refugee and has taken him in
A Syrian refugee who spent seven months stranded in a Malaysian airport has arrived in Vancouver and embraced the woman who sponsored him for permanent residency in Canada.
Hassan Al Kontar was stuck in Kuala Lumpur International Airport in March after his Malaysian tourist visa expired.
He was not allowed to board a flight to another country and said he could not return to Syria because he refused to serve in the military.
The 37-year-old's story gathered attention on social media where he shared pictures of himself surviving on donated airline meals and washing and giving himself a haircut in the bathrooms of Terminal 2.
Malaysian officials had planned to deport him back to his war-torn homeland but he was brought to Canada by sponsor Laurie Cooper who picked him up at the airport and drove him to her home in Whistler.
Hassan Al Kontar hugs Laurie Cooper, who brought him to Canada and raised almost 15,000 Canadian for his fresh start
Hassan Al Kontar arrives in Vancouver after flying from Kuala Lumpur, where he had been stranded for seven months when his tourist visa expired
On Monday night he arrived at Vancouver International Airport wearing flip-flops and a T-shirt, becoming a permanent resident because the country had already recognized him as a refugee.
Kontar said he had been too excited since his arrival to sleep, saying: 'In real life, there are moments that are more beautiful than the dream itself.'
'For me, walking on the street again and smelling the fresh air, it's not a normal thing: It's the sound and smell of freedom.'
Before climbing into a car and heading to Whistler, where a bed, fresh clothes and a hotel job were awaiting him, he whispered to himself: 'I will be fine.'
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Cooper drove him to her home in Whistler, British Columbia, where he is staying until he gets his bearings.
With the help of a group of residents in the ski resort of Whistler and the British Columbia Muslim Association, Cooper raised almost 15,000 Canadian dollars for his fresh start. Kontar left Syria before the civil war began in 2011 and had worked in the UAE but had to leave after his visa ran out.
He said he could not return to his homeland because he refused to serve in the military.
In online posts he showed himself knitting, and celebrated when the sun peeked through the window or when, momentarily, a few fluorescent lights went off.
Kontar was brought to Canada by sponsor Laurie Cooper, pictured embracing at the airport who picked him up at the airport and drove him to her home in Whistler
Kontar tries to give himself a haircut in the bathroom at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, where he was stranded for seven months
His plight caught the eye of Canadians who sought to privately sponsor him as a refugee.
Documenting his ordeal 'was a need,' Kontar said on Tuesday, because people 'are in the dark when it comes to the refugee crisis.'
Shawkat Hassan, of British Columbia's Muslim Association which helped to sponsor him, said: 'When we noticed he had this issue, he was stranded in the Malaysian airport and no place to go, nobody is accepting him, I offered. We have space. We can bring him in to sponsor him.'
Malaysia's immigration office said in a statement Tuesday it had held talks "on the basis of concern and humanity... with the embassy of the country that agreed to receive his relocation," without naming Canada.
Kontar is not the only asylum seeker who has been left in limbo at an airport for a long period of time.
In 2015 an Iraqi family spent more than two months in an empty smoking cubicle in a Moscow airport, relying on passengers to bring them food and water.
Millions of Syrians have fled a devastating seven-year civil war that has left more than 350,000 people dead.
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Syrian refugee arrives in Canada after seven months stranded in Malaysian airport
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