ORLANDO, Fla. — An order issued March 1 allowing the release of Noor Salman, the widow of Pulse nightclub gunman Omar Mateen, has been overturned.
An order was filed in Orlando federal court Friday revoking Salman’s $500,000 bond and requiring her to stay in custody for the duration of legal proceedings against her.
A judge stayed Salman’s release on March 3 and the decision to detain her indefinitely was made Friday.
Salman is charged with aiding and abetting the attempted provision and provision of material support to a foreign terrorist organization and obstruction of justice.
She is accused of helping Mateen plan and carry out the June 12 attack at Pulse night club that killed 49 and injured 53 others.
Salman’s attorneys argued that she was not a danger to the public and her family members were willing to put up their homes as collateral for her release.
She was also going to be required to wear a GPS tracking device.
Prosecutors claimed that Salman knew what her husband was planning and accompanied him on “scouting” trips to several areas, including Pulse nightclub.
In Friday’s order, the judge noted a text message Salman sent Mateen could be construed different ways.
Texting her husband after receiving a phone call from her mother-in-law asking why Mateen had not come over for Ramadan, Salman asked, “Where are you?”
Having said she knew he was going to a friend’s home that evening, the ruling judge pointed out that the question could mean she truly did not know where he was, or that she was asking which target he had attacked.
Salman is accused of accompanying Mateen to City Place, Disney Springs and Pulse nightclub to scout for an attack target.
Additionally, among other reasons, the judge reasoned that members of Salman’s family owned property in the West Bank and there was no guarantee that the Palestinian National Authority “would comply with extradition requests from the United States should defendant Salman flee to take up residence in Palestine.”