Federal authorities have arrested a Brooklyn man for broadcasting al-Manar — the Hezbollah TV station — via satellite to New York-area TV viewers.
The government said the U.S. Treasury Department had designated al-Manar a terrorist entity and that it was illegal for Americans to do business with such an organization.
Javed Iqbal, 42, who runs Brooklyn-based HDTV, was arrested last week on charges that he provided satellite broadcasts of al-Manar after it was designated a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” entity. He is charged with conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. HDTV's Brooklyn office and Iqbal's Staten Island home were searched for satellite dishes.
The federal government froze the U.S. assets of al-Manar last March. It claimed the station supported fund-raising and recruitment activities of Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim group backed by Syria and Iran that has been at war with Israel in southern Lebanon.
