BEIRUT: A Lebanese professor is back in her home country after she was expelled from the United States for attending the funeral of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah during a trip to Beirut, her family said Tuesday.
Rasha Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist and professor at the Ivy League Brown University, was detained on Thursday at Logan International Airport in Boston and deported the following day, US media reported.
A member of Alawieh’s family said that “after she was detained by Homeland Security at Boston airport, she was asked whether she had participated in the funeral of former Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah” on February 23.
Alawieh, 34, responded by saying she had joined the many thousands who gathered on the road outside the stadium where the funeral was held, but that she “did not attend the ceremony inside the stadium,” said the family member who did not wish to give their name.
“Pictures were found on her phone of Hezbollah figures” and she was accused of being sympathetic to the group, the family member added.
“Her life’s dream is to return to the United States because her whole future will be at risk.”
She was detained on Thursday after spending weeks on holiday in Lebanon, where she had received a residence visa from the US embassy granted to foreigners with special skills, the family member said.
The Department of Homeland Security on Monday posted on X saying that Alawieh “traveled to Beirut, Lebanon, to attend the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah – a brutal terrorist who led Hezbollah, responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade terror spree.
“Alawieh openly admitted to this... as well as her support of Nasrallah,” it added.
The White House later shared the Homeland Security post with the message “Bye-bye, Rasha.”
Thousands participated in Nasrallah’s funeral in Beirut last month, which came months after he was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut in September.
Iran-backed Hezbollah had delayed the funeral until a ceasefire with Israel and the withdrawal of the majority of Israeli troops from south Lebanon.
