NEW YORK —  A judge refused to toss out charges against a jazz musician, a doctor and two other men accused of supporting terrorists.

Defense lawyers had argued that the men were arrested through entrapment and outrageous conduct by an overzealous government in late 2001, but U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska refused to dismiss the charges Monday.

She said evidence in the case could be viewed as showing the men had made statements and taken actions making them"predisposed to commit these crimes"even before the government sent a confidential informant to record their conversations.

The judge said trial will begin in April or June for Rafiq Abdus Sabir, a Florida doctor; jazz musician and martial arts expert Tarik Shah of New York; bookstore owner Abdulrahman Farhane of New York; and Washington, D.C., cab driver Mahmud Faruq Brent.

An indictment in the case accuses Farhane and Shah of conspiring in 2001 to help an FBI cooperating witness send money to aid Islamic militants fighting U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Brent was accused of conspiring to help Lashkar-e-Taiba, which the United States designated a terrorist organization in December 2001. Prosecutors said Sabir, the doctor, agreed to treat holy warriors in Saudi Arabia.

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All the defendants have pleaded not guilty and are being held without bail.

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