A Staten
Island satellite-TV salesman was sentenced to more than five years in
prison Thursday for aiding Hezbollah's recruitment of suicide bombers by beaming the
group's anti-Israel
propaganda into U.S. homes.
Javed
Iqbal, 45, told Manhattan Federal Court Judge Richard
Berman his arrest has devastated him financially and hurt his wife and six
children.
Prosecutors say the former motorcycle mechanic
notched a $28,000-per-month deal with Al Manar to broadcast its programming in U.S.
"I did not make any profit as a result of
broadcasting Al Manar, and it cost me my entire life," Iqbal told Berman.
He was sentenced to 69 months in prison after
pleading guilty in December to providing material aid to a terrorist
organization.
Iqbal's attorney, Joshua
Dratel, said his client held no religious or political loyalties to
Hezbollah, but was out to make a buck. Dratel reminded Berman that Iqbal's HDTV
Limited also provided customers with Christian programming, adult
entertainment and gay and lesbian channels.
"He is a businessman and sought to provide
services he thought would generate profits," Dratel wrote in court papers.
Prosecutors disagreed, saying Iqbal travelled to
South Beirut to seal the deal with Al Manar
higherups. "He was, in a very real sense, Hezbollah's man in New
York City," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Snyder.
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