By Colleen Slevin, Special to The Colorado Sun
A man accused of killing one person and injuring a dozen more in a firebombing attack on demonstrators showing support for Israeli hostages in Gaza pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and all other charges against him in state court Thursday.
Investigators say Mohamed Sabry Soliman yelled “Free Palestine!” as he threw Molotov cocktails at the crowd on Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall in June. Soliman allegedly told police he intended to kill the approximately 20 people at the weekly event but said he got scared because he had never hurt anyone before. Karen Diamond, 82, who was active in Boulder’s Jewish community and civic organizations, was severely injured and later died of her injuries.
Soliman, 46, is expected to be sentenced to life in prison without parole plus at least 400 years in state court, according to a court filing by his lawyers in a related federal case.
During his hearing in Boulder County District Court on Thursday, Soliman, dressed in an orange and white striped jail uniform, entered his pleas sitting between his two lawyers, listening to a translation of the proceedings to Arabic using headphones. He sometimes nodded to indicate he understood what Judge Nancy Salomone was telling him.
People in the packed but quiet courtroom listened as the names of the charges and victims were read for nearly an hour. One woman knitted. One man closed his eyes as some of the counts were read.
The details of the plea and sentence were previously disclosed in a document requesting that Soliman’s now ex-wife and the couple’s five children not be deported so they could provide possible testimony to prevent Soliman from being sentenced to death on separate federal charges against him.
Hayam El Gamal and the children, ages 5 to 18, were arrested shortly after the Boulder attack. The family, which has denied knowing anything about the attack, were held in immigration detention in Texas for nearly 10 months before being released last month. They were arrested again after returning to Colorado and put on a plane, according to their attorneys, and then released again after the lawyers went to court to block their deportation.
Federal authorities have said Soliman, an Egyptian national, had been living in the United States illegally at the time of the attack.
The family came to the United States in 2022 from Kuwait, where the children were born, with tourist visas and applied for asylum after settling in Colorado Springs, Soliman’s federal lawyers said in the court document. The family had been told they could remain in the U.S. while their application was considered, according to Soliman’s lawyers.
Soliman has pleaded not guilty to 12 hate crime counts in federal court. Federal prosecutors allege the victims were targeted because of their perceived or actual connection to Israel. But Soliman’s federal defense lawyers say he should not have been charged with hate crimes because the evidence shows he was motivated by opposition to Zionism, the political movement to establish and sustain a Jewish state in Israel.
An attack motivated by someone’s political views is not considered a hate crime under federal law.
Soliman’s defense lawyers say he has offered to also plead guilty in the federal case and be sentenced to life in prison but the government hasn’t decided whether to accept his offer because it is still considering whether to pursue the death penalty against him.
This is a developing story that will be updated.