The U.S. State Department on Friday listed al- Manar Television, the broadcasting wing of Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, on a terrorist list that will bar foreigners linked to the channel from entering the United States. In a listing in the Federal Record, al-Manar was placed on the U.S. Terrorist Exclusion List, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "Our law says that the organization can be put on the list if it commits or incites to commit any terrorist activity, and that is what we found," he said. "What we have done, therefore, is to exclude aliens who have associations with al-Manar, based on the designation of the organization under the Terrorist Exclusion List." Boucher said that foreigners would be ineligible for U.S. visas or subject to deportation if they donated or raised money for al-Manar or were otherwise linked with the channel and therefore considered a member of the organization under U.S. law. He said that the specific listing did not apply to U.S. citizens, though other designations might. Boucher was not sure how the ruling might impact any distributors of al-Manar programming in the United States. "It's entirely logical that if we view Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, which it is, that their propaganda activities through this television station should be barred," he said. "It's not a question of freedom of speech. It's a question of incitement to violence. And we don't see why, here or anywhere else, a terrorist organization should be allowed to spread its hatred and incitement through the television airwaves." France has recently banned al-Manar broadcasts.
