Vol. 73/No. 19      May 18, 2009

U.S. prosecutor Eric Snyder claimed that Javed Iqbal, the owner of HDTV Ltd, was “Hezbollah’s man in New York City.”

Iqbal, a Pakistani immigrant and former motorcycle mechanic, operated the satellite TV business out of his home. His company offered a wide variety of programming, including Christian evangelists and “adult” entertainment.

Lebanon-based al-Manar broadcasts soap operas, dramas, and MTV-like music videos, as well as news and speeches from Hezbollah leaders. Hezbollah, a bourgeois party, is legally recognized in Lebanon and has nine members of parliament. The U.S. State Department added Hezbollah to its list of “foreign terrorist organizations” in 1997 and the Treasury Department added the TV station to its terrorist list in March 2006, just five months before Iqbal’s arrest.

Al-Manar was formed in 1991 and began satellite broadcasts in 2000. It belongs to the Arab States Broadcasting Union under the auspices of the Arab League. Its Web site is easily accessible and appears in Arabic, Spanish, French, and English.

Iqbal faced up to 15 years in prison. He accepted a plea bargain and pleaded guilty to a single count in December.

“I have not harmed anyone in my whole life,” Iqbal said in a statement to the court.

Iqbal’s lawyer had tried to get the case thrown out of court as a violation of the First Amendment, but U.S. District Court Judge Richard Berman refused. He ruled that Iqbal was not being prosecuted for the “content” of speech, but for providing “material support” to a “terrorist” group, by broadcasting the al-Manar channel and selling it to customers in the United States.
 
 
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Free ‘Ft. Dix 5’ and Javed Iqbal!  
 
 
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