Dentist jailed for terrorism - NJ.com

Dentist jailed for terrorism - NJ.com

A Brooklyn dentist who lives in New Jersey was sentenced to 17 months in prison yesterday for aiding the terrorist group Hezbollah by broadcasting its Lebanese television station to satellite users in the metropolitan area.



Saleh Elahwal, 56, of Matawan had admitted in December that he and another man accepted some $112,000 from Hezbollah's television station, al Manar, to provide its satellite broadcasts through a company they operated, Brooklyn-based HDTV Limited, from September 2005 through August 2006.

He was sentenced yesterday to 17 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman for providing material support to Hezbollah, which the U.S. government regards as a terrorist organization.

The second man charged in the case, Javed Iqbal, 45, of Staten Island also pleaded guilty in December and was sentenced to 69 months in prison by Judge Berman in April. Iqbal is a Pakistani who has been in the United States some 20 years,

Elahwal's lawyer, Edward V. Sapone, said he was satisfied with the sentence, acknowledging that the technological support and satellite access provided by Elahwal and Iqbal was not activity protected by the First Amendment.

"I can't provide material support to al Manar, because that goes beyond the First Amendment," Sapone said. "As an attorney, I am not only pleased with Judge Berman's sentence of 17 months, but I much appreciate it."

Yusill Scribner, a spokeswoman for Lev L. Dassin, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said the office had no comment on the sentence.

Hezbollah, which means "Party of God," was designated by the U.S. government as a "foreign terrorist organization" in 1997 and as a "specially designated global terrorist" in October 2001.