BOULDER, Colo. \u2014 A man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty Thursday to killing one person and injuring a dozen others in a 2025 firebombing attack on a demonstration in Boulder, Colorado, in support of Israeli hostages in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mohamed Sabry Soliman looked down at a desk throughout the sentencing. He has meanwhile pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges for the attack last June. Prosecutors are weighing whether to seek the death penalty in the federal case, according to his attorneys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Authorities say Soliman threw two Molotov cocktails at demonstrators at a pedestrian mall in downtown Boulder, a city of 100,000 people northwest of Denver that\u2019s home to the University of Colorado.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Karen Diamond, 82, was injured in the attack and later died. A dozen others were also injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soliman is an Egyptian national who federal authorities say was living in the U.S. illegally. Investigators allege he planned the attack for a year and was driven by a desire \u201cto kill all Zionist people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking to the court through an interpreter for nearly a half hour, Soliman offered apologies to the victims and condolences for Diamond\u2019s death. \u201cThere are no words that can express my sadness for her passing,\u201d Soliman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said he wasn\u2019t asking for leniency at sentencing for his convictions in state court and wants prosecutors pressing federal hate crime charges against him to seek the death penalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf I went back, I would not have done this as this is not according to the teaching of Islam,\u201d Soliman said. \u201cWhat I did came out of myself and only myself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
District Attorney Michael Dougherty said Soliman\u2019s guilty pleas don\u2019t show an acceptance of responsibility but rather \u201ca surrender to the strength of the evidence\u201d against him. Despite Soliman\u2019s claims he doesn\u2019t hate people who practice the Jewish faith, Judge Nancy Salomone concluded Soliman targeted the victims because they were Jewish. \u201cYou chose a time and a place and a set of circumstances and weapons that were designed to inflict the most pain that you could,\u201d the judge said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a statement read earlier in court by a prosecutor, Diamond\u2019s sons asked that Soliman not be allowed to see his family again \u201csince he is responsible for our mother never seeing her family again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Andrew and Ethan Diamond said their mother suffered \u201cindescribable pain\u201d for over three weeks before her death. \u201cIn those weeks, we learned the full meaning of the expressions \u2018living hell\u2019 and \u2018fate worse than death,\u2019\u201d Diamond\u2019s sons said in the statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soliman\u2019s federal attorneys have said in court filings the attack \u201cwas profoundly inconsistent\u201d with Soliman\u2019s prior conduct and \u201ccame as a total shock to his family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the time of the attack, Soliman had been living with his family in a two-bedroom apartment in Colorado Springs \u2014 about 97 miles away. He had moved to the U.S. from Kuwait in 2022 with his wife and their five children and worked in a series of low-paying jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The couple divorced in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Investigators allege Soliman told them he intended to kill the roughly 20 participants at the weekly demonstration at Boulder\u2019s Pearl Street pedestrian mall. He threw two of more than two dozen Molotov cocktails he had with him while yelling, \u201cFree Palestine!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Police said he told them he got scared because he had never hurt anyone before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Federal prosecutors allege the victims were targeted because of their perceived or actual connection to Israel. Soliman\u2019s federal defense lawyers argue he should not have been charged with hate crimes because he was motivated by opposition to Zionism, the political movement to establish and sustain a Jewish state in Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An attack motivated by someone\u2019s political views is not considered a hate crime under federal law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
State prosecutors have identified 29 victims in the attack. Thirteen were physically injured. The others were nearby and considered victims because they could have been hurt. A dog was also injured in the attack, and Soliman was charged with animal cruelty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soliman\u2019s wife, Hayam El Gamal, and their children spent 10 months in immigration detention until a federal judge in Texas ordered their release in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An immigration appeals court had dismissed their case to stay in the U.S. and issued a deportation order. But U.S. District Judge Fred Biery in San Antonio allowed their release on the condition that El Gamal and her oldest child, who is 18, wear electronic monitoring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soliman\u2019s attorneys seek to block the family\u2019s deportation until a judge determines they won\u2019t need to be present for court proceedings in his federal case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n