The last of four men tried in Florida for aiding a Middle East terrorist organization, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, was sentenced yesterday to 37 months in prison.

Hatem Fariz, 33, agreed to plead guilty to a single count of conspiracy to provide “funds, goods, or services” to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which was designated as a terrorist group by President Clinton in 1995.

“It’s not great. But it could be a lot worse,” Fariz said yesterday, according to a report on the Web site of a local newspaper, the St. Petersburg Times. “Guess I’ll lose weight and get some exercise in prison,” he said.

Fariz stood trial in Tampa last year along with a former computer science professor at the University of South Florida, Sami Al-Arian, and two others, Ghassan Ballut and Sameeh Hammoudeh. The men were charged with an array of offenses, ranging from immigration fraud to conspiracy to commit murder, all in service of the terrorist group.

In a blow to federal prosecutors, jurors who heard evidence in the case for more than five months failed to convict any of the defendants. Fariz was acquitted on 25 charges and jurors deadlocked on eight others. Al-Arian was acquitted on eight counts, while the jury failed to reach a verdict on nine others. Hammoudeh and Mr. Ballut were acquitted outright.

Al-Arian entered into a similar plea deal earlier this year. He was sentenced to 57 months in prison and agreed to be deported after completing his sentence.

At a hearing in May, Judge James Moody condemned Al-Arian as a liar, but he made no similar remarks during Fariz’s brief proceeding yesterday morning, a spokesman for the prosecutors, Steve Cole, said. The 37-month sentence was at the low end of the range proposed in the plea deal.

Fariz was born in Puerto Rico to Palestinian Arab parents who later moved to Illinois. He got bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science from a university there and owned a convenience store for a time. In 2002, he moved to Spring Hill, Fla. and worked as manager of a medical office.

Many of the charges against Fariz related to money he transferred to a purportedly charitable group that prosecutors said was associated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Elehssan Society. Fariz’s defense said the group was a bona fide charity licensed at the time by the Israeli government.

Fariz appeared to play a more peripheral role in the alleged effort to aid Palestinian Islamic Jihad than did Al-Arian, whom prosecutors alleged was a member of the organization’s governing council. Yet, in a twist, Fariz is likely to be in jail long after Al-Arian’s release.

Al-Arian was held in custody from the time of his arrest in February 2003. The more than three years he has spent behind bars was credited against his sentence, making him eligible for release and deportation in about a year.

By contrast, Fariz remained free on bond while the legal proceedings went forward. He is likely to be required to serve nearly all of the time he was sentenced to yesterday.

A New Jersey man whose 20-year-old daughter was killed in a Palestinian Islamic Jihad attack, Stephen Flatow, said he had mixed feelings about the outcome. “Obviously, we would have liked to see guilty verdicts on the real serious charges,” he said. “This was better than nothing.”

Mr. Flatow said the current fighting involving Israel and two terrorist groups, Hezbollah and Hamas, demonstrates the need to cut off funding for terrorism.”We see the risk inherent when people over here in the United States throw their support behind these organizations. The price is being paid over there,” he said.

Fariz and his attorneys did not return calls seeking comment for this story. Fariz’s legal team included Wadie Said, the son of a renowned Columbia professor and advocate for Palestinian Arabs, Edward Said, who died in 2003.

Fariz also pleaded guilty last month in Chicago to wire fraud and moneylaundering charges stemming from food stamp fraud at his convenience store. He is scheduled to be sentenced next month in connection with a $1.6 million scheme under which he allowed local residents to cash out their food stamp benefits at the rate of about 50 cents on the dollar without purchasing food.