New Yorker arrested for broadcasting Hizbollah TV
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. authorities have arrested a New York man for broadcasting Hizbollah television station al-Manar, which has been designated a terrorist entity by the U.S. Treasury Department, prosecutors said on Thursday. Javed Iqbal, 42, was arrested on Wednesday because his Brooklyn-based company HDTV Ltd. was providing New York-area customers with the Hizbollah-operated channel, federal prosecutors said in a statement. It did not say how long Iqbal’s company had been providing satellite broadcasts of al-Manar, which the U.S. Treasury Department in March had designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity, making it a crime to conduct business with al-Manar.
To those of you who think that free speech is still part and parcel of American life…well, y’all really ought to check this out. I’m not saying the Hizbollah TV has anything resembling redeeming value, but if we’re stuck with Fox News Channel and MSNBC, then what’s so terrible with “Fair and Balanced Jihad”?
It’s not as if Hizbollah TV is going to convert the masses of Americans to Israel-hating, explosive vest-wearing swarthy agents of Allah’s Holy Warriors. I mean, after the reruns of “Sanford and Son”, “Love American Style”, and “My Favorite Martyr”, well, there’s not much except religious intstruction, news updates, and bomb-making tutorials. Where else can a budding martyr learn the tricks of his trade?
Freedom of speech, my @$$….
