TAMPA - In a trial in which "shirts" and "magazines" are considered coded references to money, talk about "books" just may be talk about books, a defense attorney said Monday.

FBI agent Ed Ortega acknowledged a secretly recorded telephone call about a 2003 money transfer to the Middle East did reference books for defendant Sameeh Hammoudeh.

Hammoudeh is one of four men, including former University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian, charged with conspiracy to commit racketeering and to provide material support to terrorists. Last week, Ortega detailed a series of money transfers defendant Hatim Fariz sent to a charity that prosecutors say is part of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group.

Ortega's testimony showed the defendants discussing money, then arranging to send it through a Chicago financial services office.

Under questioning by defense attorney Stephen Bernstein, Ortega acknowledged he doesn't read or speak Arabic and did not check to see whether Hammoudeh or other defendants ever received books mentioned in a call with Hammoudeh's father in the West Bank. After Hammoudeh's father indicated he had not received an anticipated $1,000 transfer, the men talked about a specific author and whether Sameeh Hammoudeh needed copies of the Koran.

Later, defense attorney Kevin Beck, who represents Fariz, picked up on Bernstein's point. Ortega said he didn't know whether the conversation, in fact, was about books.

"Sir, how do you know they are not?" Beck fired back.

Other calls preceding money transfers discussed buying an ambulance for a Gaza hospital and supporting a charity for blind women.

The money was not sent directly to those outlets. Rather, most of it went to the Elehssan Society, considered an arm of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad that operates in the West Bank and Gaza. Agents found printouts of a Web page from the society when they searched Fariz's home after his 2003 arrest.

Beck emphasized the society's self description as a cultural and charitable and athletic club established in 1998. It even had a theater troupe called Al Noor, Beck said, reading from the document.

But federal prosecutor Alexis Collins twice pointed to a play performed by that troupe, called "Children rushing toward martyrdom."

She also pointed to the Elehssan Society's report that the troupe performed for Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin and an Islamic Jihad leader named Abdullah Al-Shami.

Meanwhile, defense attorneys are fighting government plans to recall two computer experts to introduce evidence from an Islamic Jihad Web site called Qudsway .com. Assistant U.S. Attorney Terry Zitek said the FBI experts discovered new information after testifying in June.

The evidence shows Salah Abu Hassanein, the recipient of many money transfers from Fariz, used the Web page to communicate with Fariz and others.

Agents also have determined that the Web site is based in Tehran, Iran, a country that provides the Islamic Jihad with the bulk of its funding.

Allison Guagliardo, another of Fariz's attorneys, argued that the evidence is coming too late for the defense to prepare adequately. Their computer expert estimates needing four to six weeks to analyze the new material.

"At this point," she said, "it's way too late in the game for us to be able to deal with this," she said.

She added that information from Web sites constitutes hearsay and cannot pass legal hurdles. Moody deferred ruling on the motion until he receives more specific information from the defense experts.

WHAT HAPPENED

Prosecutors and defense attorneys offer varying interpretations of money the defendants sent to a Palestinian charity from 2001-03.