New York's Hizbullah Broadcaster Sent to Jail

(IsraelNN.com) U.S. Federal Judge Richard M. Berman sentenced on Tuesday a New York resident who broadcast satellite television programming of the Hizbullah terrorist organization to more than a year in prison. Saleh Elahwal pleaded guilty to providing material support to the terrorist organization's Al Manar news network between September 2005 and August 2006. He was sentenced to a year and five months.

Israel, the U.S., and many European countries define the Lebanese-based Hizbullah organization a terrorist organization, prohibiting any transaction with a terrorist organization.

Elahwal's sentencing comes two months after the main defendant, Javed Iqbal, was ordered by a federal judge in Manhattan to serve five years and nine months. Iqbal, dubbed by a prosecutor as “Hizbullah’s man in New York City," ran his business from a Brooklyn storefront and the garage of his Staten Island home, which had satellite dishes in the backyard.

Iqbal’s lawyer, Joshua L. Dratel, had earlier argued that his client was applying his First Amendment Rights that guarantee freedom of speech and providing satellite TV services. However, Judge Berman rejected Dratel’s argument, ruling that the prosecution wasn’t based on content of speech but on conduct – claims that he financed an international terrorist organization.

Iqual’s defense attorney also argued that his client’s airing the Hizbullah station wasn’t based on ideological reasons but rather on a “discrete and narrow aspect of an otherwise legitimate” business. Dratel cited as proof that Iqual also broadcast Christian broadcasting and adult entertainment, which he said was “180 degrees from Islamic fundamentalism.”

Federal prosecutor Eric Snyder disagreed, stating that Iqbal helped get out the terrorist group’s message. Calling Hizbullah a “sophisticated terrorist organization in all respects,” Snyder said that the group had used its round the clock channel to recruit members and suicide members and to raise funding for weaponry and operations. The prosecutor noted that Hizbullah had killed more Americans than any other terrorist group prior to September 11, 2001.

“He was, in a very real sense, Hizbullah’s man in New York City,” Snyder stated. “He did all this to bring the Hizbullah operations to our shores, to allow Hizbullah to have their operations here in New York City. That’s a very dangerous thing. That’s what this crime is about,” Snyder added.

June 23, 2009

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://newyork.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/nyfo062309.htm

New Jersey Man Sentenced to 17 Months in Prison for Providing Material Support and Resources to Hizballah

LEV L. DASSIN, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that SALEH ELAHWAL, 56, of Matawan, New Jersey, was sentenced today to 17 months in prison for providing material support to Hizballah, a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The sentence was imposed in Manhattan federal court by United States District Judge RICHARD M. BERMAN, before whom ELAHWAL previously pleaded guilty. According to the criminal Complaint, Count Two of the Superseding Indictment, to which ELAHWAL pleaded guilty, and statements made during proceedings in Manhattan federal court:

Hizballah (”Party of God”) is an organization based in Lebanon whose stated mission is the establishment of a fundamentalist Islamic state and the destruction of the State of Israel. Hizballah regards the United States as its enemy in this struggle. Since its inception in approximately 1982, Hizballah has pursued its mission through, among other things, attacks on civilian targets. Hizballah has been designated by the Secretary of State as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. Al-Manar (”the Beacon”) is a Lebanon-based television station operated by Hizballah and designed to cultivate support for Hizballah’s activities and mission. Al-Manar has been named a Specially Designated Global Terrorist since March 2006.

From approximately 2005 through 2006, ELAHWAL, through a Brooklyn and Staten Island-based satellite transmission company he helped operate, HDTV Limited, provided satellite transmission services to al-Manar, in exchange for thousands of dollars in payments from al-Manar. ELAHWAL provided these services knowing that al-Manar is Hizballah’s television station.

In addition to the prison term, Judge BERMAN ordered ELAHWAL to pay a fine of $7500, serve 200 hours of community service, and 3 years of supervised release.

In April 2009, co-defendant JAVED IQBAL, who also pleaded guilty to providing material support to Hizballah, was sentenced to 69 months in prison.

Mr. DASSIN praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Terrorist Task Force in conducting the investigation.

Assistant United States Attorneys ERIC SNYDER and DAVID LEIBOWITZ are in charge of the prosecution.

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