Swedish student prevents expulsion of refugee by delaying take-off

Swedish student and activist Elin Errson prevented the deportation of a 52-year-old Afghan asylum seeker to Götenborg Airport, Sweden, reports The Guardian . The young woman boarded the plane bound for Turkey, where the man was to be deported and refused to sit, preventing the aircraft from taking off.

The student at Götenborg University had bought her ticket as soon as she discovered that a 52-year-old Afghan refugee would be in the aircraft to be deported, according to the Swedish press.

As soon as she entered the camera, the young woman started a video broadcast live on her Facebook page, filming the whole scene despite the hostility of some pbadengers. This Thursday, the video combined 2.5 million views.

"What is the most important, a life or your time?"

"I am in an airplane in which there is someone who must to be expelled to Afghanistan, where he risks being killed, "she explains at the beginning of her video. "I refuse to sit until this man is out of the plane."

While a steward tries in vain to make her sit down, the young woman hammers, "I do what I can to save someone's life ", explaining that" as long as someone is standing, the pilot can not take off ". "All I want is to prevent this expulsion, and then I will obey the rules," she explains.

In the aircraft, some pbadengers get up to support her or try to better understand the scene. Others, on the other hand, get angry asking him to sit down, annoyed to see their plane fall behind. "What's more important, a life or your time, I want him to get off the plane because he will not be safe in Afghanistan," Erin Errson tells an angry British pbadenger trying to catching his phone

The young activist finally won. After about ten minutes, a steward tells him that the Afghan refugee will get out of the plane. Tired to tears, Erin Errson says that one "takes out the luggage of the refugee". She "checks that the man is out of the aircraft" before going out in turn, to the applause of several pbadengers.

Risk of Criminal Sanctions

Even if the young woman claims to have done nothing wrong, disobeying the pilot's orders aboard an airplane is punishable by fines and a prison sentence of up to at six months recalls the German radio Deutsche Welle.

Furthermore, according to the same media, the Afghan refugee was again detained when he left the plane and should still be deported at a later date.