Seat-Belt Protest on Swedish Flight Halts Deportation of Iranian Man

A quiet protest on board a plane in Sweden prevented an Iranian man from being deported back to his home country.

Passengers on a flight scheduled to leave Östersund for Stockholm last week refused to buckle their seat belts after activists handed out pamphlets against the deportation of Ghader Ghalamere. Pilots had no choice but to cancel the flight, since passengers must buckle up before a plane can legally take off.

Ghalamere has two children with his wife Fatemah, a resident of Sweden, according to The Independent. Ghalamere has been in the process of trying to become a Swedish resident himself, but Swedish law requires that he apply outside the country. He tried and failed in Norway, and upon his return, the Swedish Migration Board told Ghalamere that it would have to deport him back to Iran, where he could reapply. Read more...