Oct. 30 (UPI) — A 46-year-old man serving life in state prison for killing one person and injuring 12 others in a June 2025 firebombing attack targeting a Colorado demonstration in support of Israeli hostages has pleaded guilty in federal court to hate crime offenses.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman attacked attendees of a Run for Their Lives event in Boulder, Colo., on June 1, 2025, with a makeshift flamethrower and Molotov cocktails. The participants in the group gathered weekly to walk or run in solidarity with Israelis who were held hostage by Hamas at that time.
“No one should be subjected to violence because of their religion or national origin,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement.
“With this plea, we hope to deliver a measure of justice to the victims and their families.”
Soliman, of Colorado Springs, Colo., pleaded guilty Thursday to nine hate crime charges and three explosives charges stemming from his use of Molotov cocktails in the attack. The nine hate crime charges come with a maximum penalty of life in prison plus a $250,000 fine, while the three explosives charge have a maximum penalty of 50 years to run consecutive to any other prison term, plus the same fine. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 7.
Soliman, an Egyptian national, was sentenced to life in prison in May after pleading guilty to 101 state charges, including first-degree murder, attempted murder, assault and explosives offenses, in connection with the attack, which was conducted against a backdrop of rising anti-Semitic incidents reported in the United States and other nations amid Israel’s war in Gaza.
Soliman yelled “Free Palestine” during the attack.
Federal prosecutors said Soliman has admitted to targeting the group because he believed they were either Jewish or of Israeli origin.
“By his own admissions, Mohamed Soliman’s hateful attack on our neighbors in Boulder was anti-Semitic,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado Peter McNeilly said in a statement.
“All Americans should feel free to pursue their faith and way of life without fear that doing so will put their personal safety at risk.”
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