New York Man Charged With Providing Broadcasts From Hezbollah Television
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
NEW YORK (AP) – Authorities on Thursday announced the arrest of a man on charges that he conspired to violate federal laws by providing customers in the New York area with satellite broadcasts of a television station operated by Hezbollah.
Javed Iqbal, 42, of Staten Island, was arrested Wednesday on charges that he enabled the broadcasts of al Manar, which was designated by the U.S. government this spring as a global terrorist entity, according to a release from U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia.
The charges were brought after federal agents executed search warrants at two storefronts in Brooklyn and at a Staten Island residence where several satellite dishes helped Iqbal distribute the broadcasts through a Brooklyn company called HDTV Limited, Garcia said.
In court papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, investigator Charles Villani wrote that the probe began after a confidential source in February told law enforcement officers that Iqbal was selling al Manar broadcasts through a business in Brooklyn.
He said he had reason to believe that the two locations searched by federal agents contained evidence that would prove violations of laws banning anyone from providing support to a foreign terrorist organization.
