US authorities have arrested a New York man for locally broadcasting Hizbullah television channel al-Manar, which the US Treasury Department has designated a terrorist entity.
Javed Iqbal (42) was arrested on Wednesday because his Brooklyn-based company, HDTV Ltd, was providing New York-area customers with the Hizbullah-operated channel, federal prosecutors said in a statement yesterday.
The Treasury Department froze US assets of al-Manar in March, saying it supported fundraising and recruitment activities of Hizbullah. At that time al-Manar, which broadcasts Hizbullah news and propaganda, was designated a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" entity, making it a crime to conduct business with al-Manar, prosecutors said.
On July 12th the Israeli military destroyed its five-storey Lebanese headquarters in air strikes but al-Manar quickly returned to the air, the station's head of public relations said.
In New York, federal officials did not say how long Mr Iqbal's company had been providing satellite broadcasts of al-Manar or how many customers he had.
A woman who answered the phone at his home did not have any immediate comment.
The European Union decided to take al-Manar off European satellites last year.