BOULDER, Colo. (AP) 鈥� 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 on a demonstration in Boulder, Colorado, in in Gaza.
Speaking to the court through an interpreter, Mohamed Sabry Soliman apologized to the victims and said, 鈥淚f I went back, I would not have done this, as this is not according to the teaching of Islam. What I did came out of myself and only myself.鈥� 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.
Soliman is an Egypt national who federal authorities say was Investigators allege he planned the attack for a year and was driven by a desire
Despite Soliman鈥檚 claims he doesn鈥檛 hate people who practice the Jewish faith, Judge Nancy Salomone concluded Soliman targeted the victims because they were Jewish. 鈥淵ou chose a time and a place and a set of circumstances and weapons that were designed to inflict the most pain that you could,鈥� the judge said.
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鈥檚 home to the University of Colorado.
Karen Diamond, 82, was injured in the attack and later died. A dozen others were also injured.
鈥淭here are no words that can express my sadness for her passing,鈥� Soliman said. He said he wasn鈥檛 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.
District Attorney Michael Dougherty said Soliman鈥檚 guilty pleas don’t show an acceptance of responsibility but rather 鈥渁 surrender to the strength of the evidence鈥� against him.
In a statement read earlier in court by a prosecutor, Diamond鈥檚 sons asked that Soliman not be allowed to see his family again 鈥渟ince he is responsible for our mother never seeing her family again.鈥�
Andrew and Ethan Diamond said their mother suffered 鈥渋ndescribable pain鈥� for over three weeks before her death. 鈥淚n those weeks, we learned the full meaning of the expressions 鈥榣iving hell鈥� and 鈥榝ate worse than death,鈥欌�� Diamond鈥檚 sons said in the statement.
Soliman鈥檚 federal attorneys have said in court filings the attack 鈥渨as profoundly inconsistent鈥� with Soliman鈥檚 prior conduct and 鈥渃ame as a total shock to his family.鈥�
At the time of the attack, Soliman had been living with his family in a two-bedroom apartment in Colorado Springs 鈥� about 97 miles (156 kilometers) 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.
The couple divorced in April.
Investigators allege Soliman told them he intended to kill the roughly 20 participants at the weekly demonstration at Boulder鈥檚 Pearl Street pedestrian mall. He threw two of more than two dozen Molotov cocktails he had with him while yelling, 鈥淔ree Palestine!鈥�
Police said he told them he got scared because he had never hurt anyone before.
Federal prosecutors allege the victims were targeted because of their perceived or actual connection to Israel. Soliman鈥檚 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.
An attack motivated by someone鈥檚 political views is not considered a hate crime under federal law.
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.
Soliman鈥檚 wife, Hayam El Gamal, and their children spent 10 months in immigration detention until a federal judge in Texas in April.
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.
Soliman鈥檚 attorneys seek to block the family鈥檚 deportation until a judge determines they won鈥檛 need to be present for court proceedings in his federal case.
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