Jet Passengers Refuse to Buckle Up, Save Deportee

Passengers aboard a Swedish plane united in a simple but effective protest that has stopped a deportation, at least for now: They refused to buckle their seat belts, and that was enough to keep the plane from taking off, reports the Independent. The unusual action took place when passengers got wind of the situation involving fellow passenger Ghader Ghalamere, a Kurd who was supposed to have been shipped back to his native Iran. Ghalamere fled his homeland five years ago and eventually settled in Sweden, where he now has a wife with Swedish citizenship and two kids.

That's apparently not enough to keep him in the country, however, and Swedish officials decided to give him the boot. After the passengers' protest, Ghalamere was removed from the plane and is now being held in a migrant detention center in central Sweden, reports the International Business Times. His legal situation hasn't changed, but backers are hopeful given how his plight is drawing international attention (along with the requisite Facebook page). “It's enough now,” says the leader of a refugee support group in Sweden. “No one who sees the family can doubt that it would harm the children to their father expelled.” (More uplifting news stories.)