New York Man Charged with Relaying Hezbollah TV

U.S. authorities have charged a man living in New York with relaying programs from Hezbollah television station al-Manar, deemed a global terrorist entity by the U.S. Treasury Department.

Federal prosecutors say Javed Iqbal, also known as John Iqbal, was relaying the Hezbollah-operated station to customers in New York. Al-Manar is seen as a mouthpiece for the Lebanese Shi'ite group. U.S. law forbids conducting business with any terror group.

Iqbal faces five years in jail if he is convicted of the charges under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Why not "treason" if he is a US citizen?

I have a feeling that there will be hordes of "useful idiots" from the print media, the loser party and "freedom of speech" activits who will come to the rescue of this guy.

If you remember Al-Manar is the TV station that the Israelis clobbered when they invaded Lebanon.

"A flame will not be extinguished" said their backers. And you know what - it appeared in New York City of all the places. What an insult to the people of New York who had sufferred the effects of terrorism, It appears that the terrorists won't stop when it comes to New York.

Yet the prople of this city have no clue that terrorism could strike at ant time again.

In July, "Hezbollah Terrorist Sleeper Celll Suspected in New York City" appeared in the pages of Free Republic.

In the same month, "The New York Times Finds A New Hero Hassan Nasrallah" again appearing in the pages of Free Republic.

I gues these guys are ready to go once President Bush stops his "warrantless evesdropping" program, the program the liberals love to rescind of which without it, another tragedy would probably result. Regardless of what the libs say, it saved probably over 4000 lives from being fished in the Atlantic today.

If this Javed Iqbal guy happens to be a US citizen, the libs will say - he is protected by the US Constitution. Last time I know, one shouting "fire" in a crowded theater is not protected by the constitution.

Lawyers say "it's the intent" that determines the gravity of the offense.

If a US citizen intends to harm his country, is it not "treason"?

Oran's Dictionary of the Law (1983) defines treason as: "...[a]...citizen's actions to help a foreign government overthrow, make war against, or seriously injure the [parent nation]." In many nations, it is also often considered treason to attempt or conspire to overthrow the government, even if no foreign country is aided or involved by such an endeavour.

You know what would happen if Bush stopped the program? as you said, thousands would lose their lives in the next terrorist attack, and the Left would claim that Bush rigged it just like 9/11, and cry that "the timing was suspicious."

That's exactly how it'd go down.

Also:
More information, this time from DAWN.com (Pakistan)

Pakistani accused of operating Hezbollah TV

NEW YORK, Aug 24: A Pakistani man was due to appear in court in New York on Thursday, accused of providing a banned Hezbollah-linked television station to viewers in the city, prosecutors said.

Javed Iqbal, 42, allegedly offered to provide an undercover agent from the FBI with satellite broadcasts by Arabic-language Al Manar, according to court documents seen by AFP.

He faces up to five years in jail if convicted of charges under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

A search warrant issued by a New York court says that Iqbal was interviewed at the city’s Kennedy airport in May on returning from a trip to Lebanon and that an FBI agent entered his satellite television store some two weeks later. It was then ensuing in conversations that Iqbal was alleged to have offered broadcasts of the channel.

Al Manar is seen as a mouthpiece of the Lebanese Hezbollah, and was categorised by US authorities in March as a terrorist entity, making it a crime to conduct any business with it.—AFP

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