An indictment was unsealed Monday that accuses a Matawan man and a Staten Island man of hooking customers up with a terrorist television channel.
Both 53-year-old Saleh Elahwal, of Matawan, and 42-year-old Javed Iqbal, of Staten Island, pleaded not guilty to the 11 counts against them. The FBI says both men helped pipe al Manar, a network run by Hezbollah, into U.S. homes. Federal officials say Elahwal and his accomplice took thousands of dollars from al Manar in exchange for hooking up subscribers to the illegal channel.
Al Manar has been designated by the U.S. government this year as a global terrorist entity. Government officials say al Manar features news programming that promotes Hezbollah?s positions and shows statements from the terror group. If convicted on all 11 counts, Elahwal and Iqbal could each face up to 110 years in prison.