Doctor deported to Lebanon had photos ‘sympathetic’ to Hezbollah on her phone, US says

BOSTON - The US authorities on March 17 said they deported a Rhode Island doctor to Lebanon last week after discovering “sympathetic photos and videos” of the former long-time leader of Hezbollah and militants in her cell phone’s deleted items folder.

Dr Rasha Alawieh had also told agents that while in Lebanon, she attended

the funeral of Hezbollah’s slain leader Hassan Nasrallah

in February, whom she supported from a “religious perspective” as a Shi’ite Muslim.

The US Department of Justice provided those details as it sought to assure a federal judge in Boston that US Customs and Border Protection did not wilfully disobey an order he issued on March 14 that should have halted Dr Alawieh's immediate removal.

The 34-year-old Lebanese citizen, who held an H-1B visa, was detained on March 13 at Logan International Airport in Boston after returning from a trip to Lebanon to see family. Her cousin then filed a lawsuit seeking to halt her deportation.

Her expulsion came as Republican US President Donald Trump’s administration has sought to sharply restrict border crossings and ramp up immigration arrests.

In its first public explanation for her removal, the Justice Department said Dr Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist and assistant professor at Brown University, was denied re-entry to the United States based on what CBP found on her phone and statements she made during an airport interview.

“It’s a purely religious thing,” she said about the funeral, according to a transcript of that interview reviewed by Reuters. “He’s a very big figure in our community. For me, it’s not political.”

Western governments including the United States designate Hezbollah a terrorist group.

The Lebanese militant group is part of the “Axis of Resistance”, an alliance of Iran-backed groups across the Middle East that also includes the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which sparked the Gaza war by attacking Israel 17 months ago.

Based on those statements and the discovery of photos on her phone of Nasrallah and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, the Justice Department said CBP concluded “her true intentions in the United States could not be determined”.

“A visa is a privilege, not a right – glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be denied,” US Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “This is common-sense security.”

Fight continues

Ms Stephanie Marzouk, a lawyer for Dr Alawieh’s cousin Yara Chehab, told reporters outside of court on March 17 that they would continue pushing to secure Dr Alawieh’s return to the United States.

“We’re not going to stop fighting,” she said.

A spokesperson for Providence-based Brown University said it was seeking to learn more about what happened.

Dr Alawieh has been employed by Brown Medicine, a non-profit medical practice affiliated with Brown’s medical school.

As news of Dr Alawieh’s deportation spread during the weekend, the school on March 16 issued guidance advising its international students, staff and faculty to consider postponing or delaying personal travel outside the United States “out of an abundance of caution”.

In March 17’s filing, the Justice Department also defended CBP officials against claims by the cousin’s legal team that Dr Alawieh was flown out of the country on the evening of March 14 in violation of an order issued by US District Judge Leo Sorokin that day.

The judge had issued an order barring Dr Alawieh’s removal from Massachusetts without 48 hours’ notice.

Yet she was put onto a flight to France that night and is now back in Lebanon.

The judge on March 16 had directed the government to address “serious allegations” that his order was wilfully violated ahead of a hearing that had been scheduled for March 17.

That hearing was cancelled on March 17 at the request of the cousin’s lone remaining attorney, after lawyers at the law firm Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer representing her pro bono withdrew, citing “further diligence” about the quickly-moving case.

A lawyer with that firm said she had gone to the airport on March 14 and shown a CBP officer a copy of Judge Sorokin’s order on her laptop before Dr Alawieh’s Air France flight departed, and another CBP official in a declaration on March 17 said he was made aware that occurred before taking Dr Alawieh to the boarding area.

But the Justice Department said the notification needed to be received through standard channels and be received by the agency’s legal counsel for their review and guidance, which did not happen.    

“CBP takes court orders seriously and strives to always abide by a court order,” Justice Department attorneys wrote.

The Justice Department’s filing was later sealed by Judge Sorokin at the request of a lawyer for the cousin.

Reuters reviewed it from a public terminal in the courthouse before access was further restricted. REUTERS