A second man was charged Monday with conspiring to support terrorists by enabling customers to obtain satellite broadcasts of a Hezbollah television station. Saleh Elahwal, 53, of Matawan, New Jersey, was charged in a case that has drawn scrutiny over how far the federal government can go in claiming someone is helping terrorist groups.In August, Javed Iqbal of Staten Island was charged with helping his customers receive broadcasts of al Manar, which the U.S. government designated as a global terrorist entity this year. Prosecutors said FBI agents found multiple satellite dishes that helped Iqbal distribute the broadcasts through a Brooklyn company called HDTV Limited.
Al Manar features news programming that promotes Hezbollah's positions and shows statements from the terror group and speeches by its leader, the federal government has said. Iqbal has been subject to electronic monitoring since he was released on $250,000 (€194,690) bail over the objections of the government after his initial arrest. Iqbal and Elahwal each could face up to 110 years in prison if they are convicted of all 11 counts in the rewritten indictment unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The indictment accused the men of carrying out the scheme from September 2005 through August.
Messages left with lawyers for both men were not immediately returned. Farhan Memon, a spokesman for Iqbal, said the case would leave Americans outraged if it were the governments of Iran or China banning major U.S. news stations and saying they were terrorist outlets. Americans, he said, would "be hopping up and down crying, 'Freedom of speech! Freedom of the press!'"