A Bradford academic is helping piece together the remarkable life of an Iranian dissident who has spent the last 12 years living in a French airport.

Professor John Allcock taught Iranian Alfred Merhan, also known as Merhan Karimi Nasseri, when he was post graduate student of Yugoslavian studies at Bradford University during the 1970s.

An American film crew is making a documentary about 'Mr Alfred' called What IS This Place? and they asked the Telegraph & Argus to help trace academics who taught the 54-year-old, who became an international symbol in the 1990s of Europe's hardline stance against immigrants.

Director Paul Hugo said: "A lot of Mr Alfred's past is shrouded in mystery. I think it's really important to reconstruct his life, and one of the ways to do this is to speak to people who knew him.

"Thanks to the T&A article, the professor has come forward and could be very crucial, not only to the film, but also to Alfred himself."

In 1988 he was sent back to Charles DeGaulle Airport, near Paris, after a bungled attempt to enter Britain illegally. But, because he was deported from his home country in the 1970s with a non-renewable passport, he could not be deported again and instead took up residence in the airport's Terminal One.

According to Prof Allcock, 'Mr Alfred' was a student from October, 1976 to June, 1977.

"We had an idea that he had applied for the course because he was out of favour with the regime in Iran and wanted to get out of the country," he said.

"He had a psychology degree and was academically suitable so we took him on. He wasn't a good student because he failed his exams, and he struggled in seminars because his spoken English wasn't very good.

"My feeling was that he was using the course as some sort of political refuge. I think it's very sad - the thought of spending 12 years in an airport is appalling. It's a nightmare situation to be in."

Although 'Mr Alfred' was granted refugee status last year, he no longer wants to leave the sanctity of the airport and survies on donations from the public and reporters who have covered his story.