The Independent brings us this uplifting story:
A man facing deportation from Sweden has been granted a temporary reprieve after fellow passengers aboard his flight to Iran prevented it from taking off by refusing to fasten their seat belts.
A Kurd fearing persecution in his home country of Iran, Ghader Ghalamere fled the country years ago and now has two young children with his wife Fatemeh, a Swedish resident.
As a result he qualifies for a residence permit himself – yet because of a quirk in immigration laws he is required to apply for it from outside Sweden.
On Thursday, Mr Ghalamere was put on a flight at Östersund bound for Stockholm – and ultimately Iran itself – accompanied by his friends and family in protest.
Gathering in the departure lounge, they spoke to other passengers preparing to board the flight and explained the situation.
Clearly moved, once on board the plane the other passengers refused to fasten their seat belts – a protest that prevented the pilots from being able to begin take off.
A similar cycle of solidarity has been playing out in Seattle's backyard over the past two months, with the blockage of vans of deportees leaving the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma by activists on February 24 inspiring, in turn, a hunger strike by detainees inside the facility starting on March 8. That inspired, in a further turn, the breaking out of a hunger strike at another privately-run immigration jail in Texas on March 17. According to activists, two Tacoma detainees who've been on hunger strike for the past month remain under medical observation.
All of that hasn't stopped, however, Immigration and Customs Enforcement from carrying out another batch of deportations yesterday, busing dozens of immigrants to Sea-Tac Airport. They'll be flown out on government planes in shackles rather than on commercial jetliners, where they'd have the chance to bond with fellow humans traveling to places near and far. Remember that two-thirds of deportees, according to the New York Times, have committed no criminal offense.
