Federal prosecutors in the Holy Land Foundation case have asked a judge to drop the bulk of the charges against two of the defendants, who still face conspiracy charges alleging they lent support to the terrorist group Hamas.

The 29 counts each that prosecutors want to dismiss against Mufid Abdulqader and Abdulrahman Odeh are ones jurors largely acquitted both men on last year, following a two month-long trial and nearly a month of deliberations. Those acquittals were tossed after the judge declared a last-minute mistrial Oct. 22.

Both men still face three of the most serious charges against them, including conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization; conspiracy to provide funds, goods and services to a specially designated terrorist; and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

If convicted on the three remaining counts, each man could face up to 55 years in federal prison or what amounts to a life sentence.

The dropped counts cover overseas money transfers to Palestinian charity groups called zakat committees. Prosecutors allege these committees were controlled by Hamas, which the U.S. deemed a terrorist organization in 1995. Hamas seeks the destruction of Israel and has killed hundreds of Israeli civilians in suicide bombings.

Both prosecutors and defense attorneys are barred from discussing the case because of a longstanding gag order.

"It's a good start," said Khalil Meek, spokesman for the Hungry for Justice Coalition, which supports the five Holy Land defendants and has long criticized the government's case as politically driven.

"These charges are without merit, and they demonstrate the overzealous political nature of this prosecution, the amount of taxpayer moneys already wasted, and the unnecessary hardships that have been placed on the defendants during this entire process."

Former federal prosecutors say trimming the charges down is a smart move, and not uncommon in bulky conspiracy cases.

"It's better to streamline your case with the strongest evidence you've got," said former Dallas federal prosecutor Bill Mateja. "It's apparent from the verdicts from the last trial that these were counts that were not as strong. The government realizes that it went on too long last time."

Part of the trouble with cases such as Holy Land is the "scrutiny it gets all the way up the Department of Justice chain of command," said another former federal prosecutor, Tom Melsheimer of Dallas.

"You end up with too many cooks in the kitchen, and you've got a stew that's got a bunch of ingredients, but doesn't taste very good," he said. "The government is trying to get back to basics and focus on the cleanest and most easily understandable allegations."

But jurors will still have to sit through tedious testimony about those wire transfers, as they make up a significant portion of 35 counts pending against Ghassan Elashi, former Holy Land board chairman, and the 34 counts against Shukri Abu Baker, former Holy Land chief executive.

Mr. Elashi and Mr. Baker were in decision-making positions within the Holy Land organization, whereas Mr. Abdulqader, a member of a Palestinian folk band that played at Holy Land fundraisers, and Mr. Odeh, ex-head of Holy Land's New Jersey office, were primarily fundraisers.

Last year, after two months of testimony and 19 days of deliberations, jurors initially acquitted Mr. Abdulqader on all 32 counts and cleared Mr. Odeh on all but two.

But U.S. District Judge A. Joe Fish threw out all those acquittals after jurors expressed last-minute doubts in open court about whether they agreed the men were not guilty.

Jurors did agree, however, that a fifth co-defendant, Mohammed El-Mezain, Holy Land's original chairman and later director of endowments, was not guilty on all but one of his 32 counts. Mr. El-Mezain's acquittals were the only ones that stood after the Oct. 22 mistrial.

Mr. El-Mezain remains charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, which carries up to 15 years in prison. Last year's jury reached no unanimous decisions on any of the counts for Mr. Elashi and Mr. Baker.