NEW YORK (AFX) - The prosecution of a businessman accused of enabling customers to receive satellite broadcasts of a Hezbollah television station is drawing scrutiny over how far the government can go in claiming someone is aiding terrorist groups.
Attorneys say the case of Javed Iqbal, who was arrested Wednesday on conspiracy charges, is unusual because the charges stem from the distribution of news.
U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia alleges that Iqbal, a 42-year-old Pakistani from Staten Island, conspired to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a law that bars direct financial aid to terrorist groups and the sales of products or services that could help such groups.
Some civil liberties advocates say the prosecution appears to ignore exemptions in the law that cover distribution of news media -- including wire feeds, tapes and photographs.
The charges accuse Iqbal of attempting to distribute Al Manar, purportedly a media outlet of Lebanon-based Hezbollah that features programming promoting the group. The U.S. government designated Al Manar a terrorist entity in March. Hezbollah, a leading Shiite network which engages in militant as well as political and social welfare activities, was classified as a terrorist group by the government in 1997.
'This is a prosecution for importing information, basically,' said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. 'That raises serious First Amendment concerns because in a free society the exchange of information of ideas is at the core.'
Lieberman said the case was another example of the Bush administration's push to expand its executive powers in the pretext of fighting terrorism.
But others following the case say the government must halt material support for terrorist groups, even if the transaction involves such activities as news dissemination.
Facilitating speech that advocates violence is not always protected by the First Amendment, said Andy McCarthy, a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
'You can't help (a terrorist group's) ostensibly legitimate activities without making them more efficient in their brutality,' McCarthy said. 'The way to reform these groups is to ... choke them until they cease to exist.'
It's a challenge to regulate aid to groups that have militant factions but also provide social services. Hezbollah, for instance, runs schools and clinics in Lebanon.
In recent years, the U.S. government has shut down a number of American-based Islamic charities after alleging the money they raised landed in the hands of terrorist groups overseas. Leaders of such charities have often denied they knowingly aided terrorists, insisting the money went to legitimate causes.
McCarthy's foundation is involved in the Coalition Against Terrorist Media and gave the government information connected to Iqbal's case.
Prosecutors have indicated in court that further charges are possible. A message seeking comment from Garcia's office was not returned Saturday.
Prosecutors allege Iqbal enabled the broadcasts of Al Manar for New York-area customers through his Brooklyn-based satellite company, HDTV Limited. In court papers, prosecutors say Iqbal promised a confidential informant working for investigators that he could provide satellite packages that include Al Manar broadcasts.
Iqbal's representatives deny that he even had the technical capability to provide customers with access to Al Manar's broadcasts. If anything, Iqbal is guilty of exaggerating the capabilities of his products in his desire to keep his business going, said Farhan Memon, a spokesman for the law firm defending Iqbal.
Iqbal, who has lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years, remains in federal custody but is expected to be released Monday on $250,000 bond, Memon said.
Mustapha Ndanusa, Iqbal's attorney, met with Iqbal on Saturday and said, 'He was in fairly good spirits; he was tired.'
The case has raised eyebrows overseas as well.
On Saturday, Lebanon's information minister, Ghazi Aridi, criticized Iqbal's arrest, calling it an 'attack against freedoms (that) robs a large section of people from watching a specific channel.'
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.