NEW YORK: The prosecution of a Pakistani businessman accused of enabling customers to receive satellite broadcasts of a Hezbollah television station is drawing fresh scrutiny over how far the government can go in claiming someone is aiding terrorist groups.

Experts say the case of Javed Iqbal, who was arrested on Wednesday on conspiracy charges, is unusual because the charges stem from the distribution of news.

US Attorney Michael Garcia alleges that Iqbal, a 42-year-old Pakistani from New York City’s Staten Island borough, conspired to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a law normally used to bar direct financial aid to terrorist groups or to stop sales of products or services that could help the groups.

Some civil liberties advocates say the prosecution appears to ignore exemptions in the law that cover distribution of media — including news wire feeds, tapes, photographs and more.

The charges against Iqbal resulted from his alleged efforts to distribute Al Manar, a media outlet arm of Lebanon-based Hezbollah that features programming promoting the group. The US government designated Al Manar a terrorist entity in March.

Hezbollah, a leading guerrilla network which engages in militant as well as political and social welfare activities, was classified as a “terrorist group” by the US 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 the groups’ softer activities, including news.

Facilitating speech that advocates violence is not always protected by the constitution, said Andy McCarthy, a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defence 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 offer other services. Hezbollah, for instance, runs schools and clinics in Lebanon.

In recent years, the US government has shut down a number of American-based Islamic charities after alleging the funds they raised actually 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. He noted the case against Iqbal appears to be at its starting point.

Prosecutors have indicated in court that further charges are possible. A message seeking comment from Garcia’s office was not immediately returned on 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 US for more than 20 years, remains in federal custody but is expected to be released on a $250,000 (euro195,890) bond on Monday, Memon said.

Mustapha Ndanusa, Iqbal’s lawyer, met 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.—AP