By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer Larry Neumeister, Associated Press Writer Tue Dec 23, 8:37 pm ET
NEW YORK – The owner of a satellite TV company pleaded guilty Tuesday to providing material aid to a terrorist organization by letting customers receive broadcasts from Hezbollah's television station.
Javed Iqbal, 45, entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. He declined comment afterward. As part of the plea, Iqbal agreed to serve a prison term of up to 6 1/2 years. Sentencing was set for March 24.
Prosecutors said Iqbal, who has lived in the United States more than 20 years, used satellite dishes on his Staten Island home to distribute broadcasts of Al Manar, the television station of the Lebanon-based organization that has been fighting Israel since the early 1980s.
Israel and the U.S. consider Hezbollah a terrorist organization and accuse it of being behind deadly attacks in Lebanon and abroad.
The charges against Iqbal sparked a First Amendment battle. Iqbal's lawyers said their client was no different from major news companies and Internet providers, some of which permit live streaming broadcasts of Al Manar.
"All these entities, like the defendants, were exercising their First Amendment rights to freely disseminate news and information, even satire, within the United States — but, all, except the defendants, have escaped prosecution altogether," Iqbal's lawyers said in court papers.
Lebanon's information minister, Ghazi Aridi, called the man's arrest an "attack against freedoms (that) robs a large section of people from watching a specific channel."
Prosecutors said the First Amendment does not protect someone from engaging in a profitable commercial relationship when the underlying conduct is illegal.
The government noted that Iqbal had said he has never been a practicing Muslim and does not believe in a particular religion. It said that meant his motivation was purely for commercial gain and "utterly nonexpressive."
The indictment described commercial overtures, business contracts, money transfers, shipments of electronic equipment and an order for 35 satellite receivers, among other things, prosecutors noted.
"The defendants remain free to speak out in favor of Hezbollah or its political objectives," prosecutors wrote.
Last year, the judge presiding over the case had rejected Iqbal's First Amendment claims.
