CHICAGO —  A graduate student living in Mississippi was an important Hamas terrorist leader directing thousands of dollars to families of members who were jailed or killed, a prosecutor said Tuesday in closing arguments of the trial of two accused militants.

"He's Hamas, and he's assisting the murderous terrorist activities of Hamas," Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph M. Ferguson told jurors, pointing at Abdelhaleem Ashqar, who was a graduate student at the University of Mississippi in the early 1990s. It was the second day of Ferguson's closing argument.

Ashqar, 48, later an assistant professor of business at Washington's Howard University, is accused along with former Chicago grocer Muhammad Salah, 53, of being a high-ranking member of the Hamas terrorist network.

The two are charged in a racketeering indictment with funneling thousands of dollars and fresh recruits to the anti-Israeli organization.

Ashqar, of Springfield, Va., does not support terrorism and has done nothing illegal, according to his defense attorney, William Moffitt. Ashqar was merely trying to get charitable contributions to impoverished Palestinians on the West Bank under Israeli army occupation, Moffitt says.

Moffitt is likely to get his chance Wednesday to address jurors, who have listened during a three-month trial to witnesses including an expert on torture and Israeli agents who testified under aliases.

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Ferguson pointed to testimony that Ashqar directed money to families of Hamas "martyrs" killed in terrorist operations and those captured and jailed by Israeli authorities.

"We're talking about someone who is a graduate student at the University of Mississippi, Oxford, Miss., and you see hundreds of thousands of dollars coursing through his accounts," Ferguson said.

Federal agents found that Ashqar spoke on his telephone 568 times in several years with Mousa Abu Marzook, an alleged top Hamas leader who also is charged in the case and is a fugitive believed to be living in Syria.

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