PARIS: Ali Akbar has been homeless, experienced extreme poverty and had been attacked.
On Wednesday, President Emmanuel Macron made Pakistan-born Akbar, believed to be the last newspaper hawker in Paris, a knight in the national order of merit in recognition of his service to France.
The French president praised Akbar’s “incredible destiny,” thanking the septuagenarian for arriving from Pakistan decades ago, selling newspapers for 50 years and carrying France in his heart.
“Dear Ali, thank you for bringing political news to our terraces at the top of your lungs, for warming the hearts of the Flore, the Deux Magots, the Lipp brasserie,” Macron said in his speech at the Elysee Palace, referring to some of the French capital’s iconic cafes.
Pakistani born 73-year-old newspaper hawker Ali Akbar poses as he sells newspaper copies in the street of the Latin Quarter in Paris on September 16, 2025. (AFP/File)
