69 Years for Aiding Hizballah

MANHATTAN (CN) – A Staten Island man was sentenced to 69 years in prison for providing material support to Hizballah, a designated foreign terrorist organization, Javed Iqbal, 45, had pleaded guilty to federal charges.     In 2005 and 2006, Iqbal provided satellite transmission services through a Brooklyn and Staten Island-based company, HDTV Ltd., to al-Manar, a Lebanon-based television station operated by Hizballah. Al-Manar has been a specialty designated global terrorist organization since 2006. Iqbal received thousands of dollars in payments from the Hizballah-owned station.     Lebanon-based Hizballah or, “Party of God,” seeks a fundamentalist Islamic state and the destruction of Israel, and regards the United States as an enemy, according to the complaint.