Author Archives: Emanuele Ottolenghi

Dr. Emanuele Ottolenghi is an independent analyst focusing on Iran’s and Hezbollah’s overseas illicit finance and influence networks.
Logan International Airport

Analysis: A deported Brown University professor’s Hezbollah ties

Dr. Racha Alawieh, a Brown University physician in the US on a visa, was denied re-entry into the country after returning from Lebanon. A central question is whether Alawieh’s entry was blocked for her exercising First Amendment rights or whether her family’s close links to Hezbollah jeopardized her visa. If the latter justification survives judicial review, the precedent may give US authorities a tool to disrupt Hezbollah’s influence and illicit finance operations in the United States.