PROVIDENCE — Over 200 people gathered on the lawn of the State House Monday night to support Dr. Rasha Alawieh, an assistant professor at Brown University who was detained at Logan Airport by US Customs and Border Protection on Thursday.
Alawieh was returning from a trip to Lebanon to visit her parents when she was prevented from reentering the US and was later placed on a flight to Paris. Friends and colleagues said she had arrived in Lebanon by Sunday morning.
Monday’s protest was organized by the Rhode Island Party for Socialism and Liberation, along with friends of Alawieh, one of the few kidney transplant doctors in the state.
Maya Lehrer, an organizer with the PSL, said Alawieh is known in her community as a healer.
“Rasha was not a political dissident,” Lehrer said. “She is a doctor.”
“Shame!” the crowd chanted.
Alaweih’s phone was seized at the airport, her lawyers said. In new documents filed in US District Court in Massachusetts, prosecutors wrote Alawieh was questioned while at the airport about photos on her phone of Hassan Nasrallah, the late longtime leader of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, as well as pictures of Hezbollah “fighters and martyrs.”
Court documents include a transcript of an interview that a US Customs and Border Protection officer conducted with Alawieh at Logan airport. The officer asked why she deleted photos from her phone one or two days before flying into Logan.
“Because I didn’t want the perception,” Alawieh told the officer. “But I know I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m not related to anything politically or militarily.”
The interview ended with the officer telling her she would not be allowed to reenter the United States.
Monday’s protest included remarks from organizers, community members, and students and lasted for about an hour.
“Are we going to allow the narrative to be shifted because of some phone photos?” Absolutely not. Shame!” Leher said. “This is how our government and our media work today. It criminalizes entire communities. It criminalizes entire countries. Was Rasha wrong for deleting those photos from her phone knowing that she would be targeted for having any sympathy with leaders in her country? Shame!”
Chants rang out demanding the release of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and pro-Palestine activist with a green card who Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested on March 8 amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian student activists. Protestors kept advocacy for Palestine and Lebanon central in their cheers, advocating for the release of “all political prisoners.”
Kai Blades, a student at Brown, demanded that his university take action to oppose the criminalization of all students, staff, and faculty members who have participated in pro-Palestinian activism since Oct. 7, 2023.
Laura Schwartz, a resident doctor at Brown’s Rhode Island Hospital and union member, said that although Alawieh is someone many of those in attendance know, or may be connected to, she is “far from the only person facing unfair and unjust deportation every day.”
Workers at the Rhode Island Free Clinic, where Alawieh volunteers, said ordinary people living in Rhode Island will be most directly impacted, especially those in need of free services.
Several other doctors attended the protest wearing their scrubs. They declined to comment but said they were representing themselves, not Brown University. Many held signs that read “Hands off our colleagues. Hands off our patients. Abolish ICE.”
Danny Walden, a resident physician in internal medicine at Brown, said he attended the protest unaffiliated with any organization in solidarity with his colleague.
“The action taken against Dr. Alawieh was hasty. It was not thought through, and it’s a detriment to our community,” he said. “So I’m here to stand up for patients.”
Dr. Walden said he has “handed off” patients to Dr. Alawieh in the past because she is one of three transplant nephrologists in Rhode Island.
“Now there are two,” he said. “This is a very vulnerable group of patients who need a very specialized type of doctor.”
Janine Lunn, 69, and her partner Jim Lund, 78, said this was one of many protests they’ve attended. Lunn, who is a German-born American citizen, wondered where the Trump administration draws the line for respecting citizenship.
“It was terrible that the student from Columbia was arrested, and now a doctor, it’s like, ‘Who’s next?’” she said. “What if you had an organ transplant surgery scheduled with her this week?”
David DeBalsi, 65, has lived in Cranston, R.I., for most of his life. He arrived at the protest more than a half hour early, balancing five signs on his shoulders. Four were refurbished stop signs that read “Stop Trump,” and the fifth was a red flag with blue and yellow block letters that read “Impeach Again!”
DeBalsi said he felt compelled to “do everything [he] can to protest injustice,” even though his 91-year-old mother worried about him missing dinner. “I’m here in support of science and vaccinations since I used to be a teacher. I told my mom not to worry.”
Lehrer said people must ask themselves how hard they are willing to fight for justice.
“It’s one thing to call a representative. It’s one thing to stand together with your colleagues,” she said. “Tell me, will you fight back when they try to demonize your colleagues?”
The crowd chanted in response.
Court documents show the lawyers who had filed a petition on Alawieh’s behalf withdrew from the case, saying that “as a result of further diligence, they no longer represent” her.
Earlier on Monday, Alawieh’s one remaining lawyer asked Judge Leo T. Sorokin of the US District Court in Massachusetts for additional time to prepare given the changes in circumstances, and the government asked for the petition to be dismissed.
Sorokin canceled Monday’s hearing, gave Alawieh’s lawyer until March 24 to supplement their response, and gave the government until March 31 to respond.