Mohamed Soliman, the Egyptian national who firebombed a weekly pro-Israel demonstration in Boulder, Colorado, pleaded guilty in federal court in Denver on Thursday, October 29, 2026, to nine federal hate-crime counts and three federal explosives charges - formally admitting that he attacked the demonstrators because of their Jewish religion and Israeli national origin. The plea is the development this site's earlier coverage pointed to: Soliman had been scheduled to change his plea at this hearing, and he is already serving a state life sentence for the same attack.
Source: Associated Press - Boulder firebomb attacker pleads guilty to federal hate crimes, October 29, 2026
The June 1, 2025 attack killed Karen Diamond, 82, who was badly burned and died three weeks later - her family says she suffered 'indescribable pain' - and injured a dozen other people. In the plea deal, one hate-crime count covers Diamond's death and eight cover attempts to kill other demonstrators; the three additional counts are federal explosives charges, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
An hour in court: interpreter, shackles, and mostly 'yes' and 'no'
Soliman spoke through an interpreter at the roughly hour-long hearing and said little besides 'yes' and 'no' answers to Senior U.S. District Judge John Kane's questions, including whether he understood the consequences of pleading guilty, Reuters and the Associated Press reported from the courtroom. Wearing a brown shirt and khaki-coloured pants, he was led out in handcuffs and shackles without looking at the victims seated in the courtroom. A group of victims sat through the hearing, some taking notes; several intend to make statements at sentencing but declined to speak on Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Hindman told the court.
Federal prosecutors, who had previously said they would not seek the death penalty, told the hearing they will seek a life term plus 50 years for the twelve counts. Colorado U.S. Attorney Peter McNeilly said after the hearing that the plea agreement, including the proposed sentence, was 'victim-driven' and gave the victims all they sought. Judge Kane said he would review the sentencing guidelines before deciding whether to accept or reject the recommendation, noting the guidelines are not binding: 'Sometimes I follow that advice and sometimes I don't,' he said. Federal sentencing was set for January 7, 2027.
Source: Associated Press - Boulder firebomb attacker pleads guilty to federal hate crimes, October 29, 2026
Ed Victor, a Boulder demonstrator who was unhurt but close enough to feel the heat from the flames, said not pursuing the death penalty lets victims get closure more quickly: 'He's not getting out. It moves him, I believe, off of the public stage much quicker.'
Source: Associated Press - Boulder firebomb attacker pleads guilty to federal hate crimes, October 29, 2026
What happened on Pearl Street on June 1, 2025
The 'Run for Their Lives' group had been demonstrating weekly in downtown Boulder in support of the hostages seized in the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. On June 1, 2025, Soliman got near the demonstration on the Pearl Street pedestrian mall - the popular shopping district in front of the Boulder County Courthouse - by posing as a gardener. Yelling 'Free Palestine,' he lit and threw two Molotov cocktails into the group, according to prosecutors. He had brought 18 of the gasoline bombs to the demonstration in a box, state prosecutors argued, and had planned the attack for a year; he tried twice to buy a gun and was denied, they said. Of the 29 victims identified by state prosecutors, 13 were physically injured; the rest were counted as victims because they could have been hurt. An injured dog led to a state animal-cruelty charge.
Source: Associated Press - Boulder firebomb attacker pleads guilty to federal hate crimes, October 29, 2026
After his arrest, Soliman told police he sought 'to kill all Zionist people,' according to an FBI affidavit cited by federal authorities. In the federal plea, he admitted targeting the demonstrators because of their actual or perceived Jewish religion and Israeli national origin - the admission at the legal heart of a hate-crime prosecution.
Already serving life on more than 100 state charges
Thursday's federal plea sits on top of a state case that ended last spring. In May 2026, Soliman pleaded guilty in state court to more than 100 state charges, including first-degree murder, and received a life sentence plus hundreds of years of additional time, Reuters reported. At that state change-of-plea and sentencing hearing, he apologised to the victims and expressed regret for the attack but also defended the view that motivated it: 'Yes, I am against Israel and I can't deny that. And that is my right,' he said, telling the court he has known and respected Jewish people while questioning the deaths of innocent people in Israeli attacks on Gaza. The state case punished the killing and the violence; the federal case was built around the bias motive and the explosives - which is why a man already serving life still faced a second prosecution.
The immigration background federal officials cite
Federal officials said Soliman was in the United States illegally at the time of the attack. He entered in 2022 on a tourist visa that expired the following year, then filed for asylum; he was granted work authorisation, but that too expired, officials said. He worked a series of low-paying jobs and was living with his wife and their five children in a Colorado Springs apartment at the time of the attack. The couple divorced in April, and Soliman recently dropped his opposition to removing his family from the United States, the Associated Press reported.
Source: Associated Press - Boulder firebomb attacker pleads guilty to federal hate crimes, October 29, 2026
Federal hate-crime charges apply when an attack is carried out because of a victim's actual or perceived religion, national origin, race or other protected characteristic - whatever community is targeted. Boulder residents, particularly the city's Jewish community, described being unnerved by an attack in the middle of their downtown, in a city northwest of Denver that is home to the University of Colorado. The same federal law is the one prosecutors reach for when worshippers, marchers or congregations of any faith - including Sikh and other South Asian communities in the US - are attacked for who they are.
What happens next
The next and final major step is sentencing on January 7, 2027, before Judge Kane in Denver. Kane must decide whether to accept the plea agreement's proposed life-plus-50-years sentence or impose a different term within the law; the nine hate-crime counts each carry a maximum of up to life in prison. Victims who stayed silent on Thursday are expected to address the court at sentencing. Whatever the federal judge decides, Soliman's state life sentence already means he will remain in prison for the attack that killed Karen Diamond - the federal case adds a formal, on-the-record judgment that the motive was hate, which is what the victims' representatives said the plea was designed to secure.
Source: Associated Press - Boulder firebomb attacker pleads guilty to federal hate crimes, October 29, 2026