New Jersey Man Received 17 Month Sentence For Providing Material Support and Resources to Hezbollah
June 23, 2009 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Lev L. Dassin, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Saleh Elahwal, 56, of Matawan, New Jersey, was sentenced today to 17 months in prison for providing material support to Hezbollah, a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The sentence was imposed in Manhattan federal court by United States District Judge Richard M. Berman, before whom Elahwal previously pleaded guilty. According to the criminal Complaint, Count Two of the Superseding Indictment, to which Elahwal pleaded guilty, and statements made during proceedings in Manhattan federal court:
Hezbollah ("Party of God") is an organization based in Lebanon whose stated mission is the establishment of a fundamentalist Islamic state and the destruction of the State of Israel. Hezbollah regards the United States as its enemy in this struggle. Since its inception in approximately 1982, Hezbollah has pursued its mission through, among other things, attacks on civilian targets. Hezbollah has been designated by the Secretary of State as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. Al-Manar ("the Beacon") is a Lebanon-based television station operated by Hezbollah and designed to cultivate support for Hezbollah's activities and mission. Al-Manar has been named a Specially Designated Global Terrorist since March 2006.
From approximately 2005 through 2006, Elahwal, through a Brooklyn and Staten Island-based satellite transmission company he helped operate, HDTV Limited, provided satellite transmission services to al-Manar, in exchange for thousands of dollars in payments from al-Manar. Elahwal provided these services knowing that al-Manar is Hezbollah's television station.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Bernab ordered Elahwal to pay a fine of $7500, serve 200 hours of community service, and 3 years of supervised release. In April 2009, co-defendant Javed Iqbal, who also pleaded guilty to providing material support to Hezbollah, was sentenced to 69 months in prison. Mr. Dassin praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Joint Terrorist Task Force in conducting the investigation. http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=dojid=6.23.09%2Ehtm