Man arrested for broadcasting Hezbollah television station.

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.

Iqbal has been charged with conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the statement said. Federal authorities searched HDTV's Brooklyn office and Iqbal's Staten Island home, where Iqbal was suspected of maintaining satellite dishes, the statement said.

The U.S. Treasury Department froze U.S. assets of al-Manar in March, saying it supported fund-raising and recruitment activities of Hizbollah, a Shiite Muslim group backed by Syria and Iran that has been at war with Israel in southern Lebanon.

I am a little shocked at this. You mean that broadcasting from a source that the government does not want us to hear from is an offence that requires jail time? I mean isn't this still America?

Isn't the point of having a free press is that we may hear or see things that our leaders may not want us to see or hear?

What are we going to hear from Hezbollah that threatens our democracy?

Do you know what really threatens our Democracy? Not letting us have access to information that is not sanctioned by our leaders. That is what will ulimately put our freedoms at risk.

You know I have little or no interest in hearing anything that Hezbollah has to say but I must admit that now that the governemnt won't let me listen to them my interest is now piqued. Good going government!