And they said Mr. Tsarnaev met several times in early 2012 with Mansur Makhmud Nidal, an alleged militant from the Russian province of Dagestan and suspected jihadist recruiter.

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Abdo referred to Maj Nidal Hasan, an army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people in a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, and told the court he remained in the accused's shadow despite "efforts to outdo him".

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The Associated Press reported that Hasan attracted the attention of law enforcement authorities in recent months after an Internet posting under the screen name "Nidal Hasan" compared Islamic suicide bombers to Japanese kamikaze pilots.

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In the mid-1980s, for example, a Pasok government let Abu Nidal, a Palestinian terrorist, have an office in Athens.

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In May 2012, Russian security services caught up with Mr. Nidal, killing him in a shootout at an apartment on the outskirts of Makhachkala.

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Major Nidal Hasan's lawyers say the beard is an expression of his Muslim faith, but army regulations state that soldiers must be clean shaven.

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