Iranian researcher denied US entry has ties to militia

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian state television is reporting that an Iranian cancer researcher who was denied entry to the U.S. has returned to Tehran.

Images aired on state television Thursday showing Mohsen Dehnavi’s return confirmed that he was the same man who previously headed a student branch of volunteer paramilitary militia.

An earlier report in the semi-official Fars news agency said Dehnavi was appointed the head of the student Basij force at Iran’s Sharif University in September 2007. The Basij is a volunteer militia that is linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

He later served on the unsuccessful 2013 presidential campaign of a prominent hard-liner, former nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili.