A man convicted of throwing petrol bombs at a rally calling for the release of Israeli hostages, an attack that killed an 82-year-old woman and injured more than a dozen others, has been sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to all state-level charges against him.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 46, entered guilty pleas on dozens of felony counts, including first-degree murder under two definitions of the offence, each carrying a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Speaking through an Arabic interpreter as he responded “guilty” to each charge read out in Boulder County District Court, the defendant was formally sentenced following a brief recess. He remained looking down at the desk throughout the proceedings.
Soliman had initially faced a total of 184 charges arising from the 1 June 2025 attack, including multiple counts of murder, attempted murder, assault, and criminal use of explosives and incendiary devices.
However, he has pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges. His lawyers argue that the attack targeted “Zionists” rather than Israelis or Jewish people.
According to court records and both prosecution and defence accounts, Soliman threw two Molotov cocktails at demonstrators calling for the return of hostages abducted during the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel. Prosecutors also said he used a makeshift flamethrower fashioned from a commercial weed sprayer, shouting “Free Palestine!” as the incendiary devices ignited.
Authorities identified 29 victims in total, including individuals burned or injured while fleeing. Some were close enough to be considered targets of attempted murder. One victim, 82-year-old Karen Diamond, later died from her injuries.
In a statement read in court by a prosecutor, Diamond’s sons urged that Soliman never again be allowed contact with his family, saying he was responsible for their mother never seeing hers again. They described her suffering over the weeks before her death as “indescribable pain”, adding: “In those weeks, we learned the full meaning of the expressions living hell and fate worse than death.”
Another victim, a physician, described the trauma of witnessing Diamond’s condition and the certainty that she would not survive.
Federal authorities say Soliman, an Egyptian national, was living in the United States illegally at the time of the attack.
His then-wife, Hayam El Gamal, and their children spent 10 months in immigration detention before a federal judge in Texas ordered their release in April. Although an immigration appeals court had dismissed their bid to remain in the United States and issued a deportation order, US District Judge Fred Biery in San Antonio allowed their release under electronic monitoring conditions for El Gamal and the couple’s eldest child, who is 18.
Soliman’s lawyers are seeking to block the family’s deportation until a judge determines whether their presence is required for proceedings in his federal case.
