I have been listening to the BBC, and a quick news report just came across that said that Iranian Merhan Nasseri was granted French citizenship and will be allowed to leave the airport. Don’t know if he is going on to the UK, not a whole lot of information from the Beeb, but thought you would want to know. (from the 20-Aug-99 column).
Thanks for the reference, but still always good to add the column link: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/990820.html
A report in today’s Toronto Star (Tuesday 21 September 1999; page A15 
confirms that he can now leave the airport, but says that he does not want to go…
Unfortunately, the story does not seem to be online at the Star. It was from the Chicago Tribune, and is online there.
Please ignore the in my last post on this thread–I’m still getting used to this system… 