NEW YORK (JTA) -- A U.S. appeals court upheld the convictions of five Holy Land Foundation organizers on charges of conspiring to send money to Hamas.

The ruling was handed down Wednesday by a three-judge panel from the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Texas.

The Texas-based Holy Land Foundation had its assets frozen by the Bush administration in December 2001. The Islamic charity and five defendants were found guilty in 2008 on charges of funneling money to Hamas.

The charity’s organizers had appealed their convictions, objecting among other things to federal prosecutors’ use of anonymous Israeli witnesses.