The trial against Noor Salman, the widow of the author of the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, took a new turn today when it was known not only that Omar Mateen’s father was an FBI informer, but that the police force came to think that the son fulfilled that same function.
This was said today by FBI Special Agent Juvenal Martin, who testified in the trial against Noor Salman, accused of cover-up, obstruction of justice and aid to a terrorist organization in the commission of a crime, among other crimes that could cost her a conviction. to life imprisonment if found guilty.
Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old Afghan American, shot and killed 49 people who attended a Latino party at gay Pulse nightclub on June 12, 2016 and, before dying by police gunfire, swore allegiance to the State Islamic (EI).
The defense of Salman, of 31 years and Palestinian origin, has asked the court to dismiss the charges against her or declare the trial null, as it was now known through the Prosecutor’s Office that Omar Mateen’s father, Seddique Mateen, was an informant the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
However, Judge Paul Byron, of the Federal District Court of the Middle District of Florida, today dismissed that request of the defense attorneys, who had alleged that the fact that the Prosecutor’s Office had not informed them of that particular since the moment in which the case against the widow of Mateen has been damaged his defense.
The testimony of the special agent of the FBI at today’s hearing still had more impact on the matter.
According to Juvenal Martín, the FBI was considering using Mateen as an informant and for that reason he was not charged in 2013, when he himself interrogated him three times as part of an open investigation after the then author of the massacre said have relationships with terrorist groups.
Martin, who, according to the court today, was responsible for managing Seddique Mateen, an FBI informant since 2005, said they received a complaint that his son had boasted in his job as a security guard of having ties and family ties with organizations such as Al Qaeda and Hezbollah, as well as with the Muslim Brotherhood.
According to his testimony, the agent asked Mateen’s boss at the security company for permission to carry a recorder hidden with the intention of capturing his words.
However, they never managed to record conversations in which they made threats or talked about the subject.
Martin also testified in federal court in Orlando that Seddique Mateen was present during the interrogations that were conducted in the apartment that Salman and Omar, who had a child in 2013, shared in St. Lucie, Florida.
He said he did not remember if Mateen admitted to making the aforementioned statements before or after his father joined those present during the interrogation, including Noor Salman, who once even served them a piece of freshly baked cake.
“Mateen said he made those comments because he felt harassed at work,” the agent said during his testimony.
He also testified that he had received a phone call from Seddique in which his informant told him: “if my son has done those things it is because he is stupid”.
Outside the court, located a few blocks from where the tragedy occurred, Noor Salman’s relatives said they feel the defendant is being used as a scapegoat by the FBI and the government to cover up their own clumsiness by letting go Mateen in 2013
“Noor is a peaceful person, who loves children,” said Mustafa Abasin, Salman’s brother-in-law.
For Abasin, “Noor is being thrown under the bus.”
The family defended the widow’s innocence and requested the annulment or dismissal of the trial against her.
