Man pleads guilty in Colorado firebomb attack on pro-Israel demonstrators
The Guardian • • nation
Key Points:
- Mohamed Sabry Soliman pleaded guilty to murder and other charges for a firebomb attack in Boulder, Colorado, that killed one person and injured a dozen others during a pro-Israel demonstration last June.
- Soliman faces up to life in prison without parole in state court and is also charged with federal hate crimes, to which he has pleaded not guilty; prosecutors are considering seeking the death penalty federally.
- The attack targeted demonstrators supporting Israeli hostages in Gaza, with Soliman allegedly motivated by a desire to kill "all Zionist people" and throwing Molotov cocktails while shouting "Free Palestine!"
- Soliman, an Egyptian national living in the U.S. without documentation, had planned the attack for a year and was living in Colorado Springs with his family before the incident; he divorced his wife in April.
- Defense lawyers argue that Soliman's opposition to Zionism is a political view and thus should not qualify as a hate crime under federal law, which distinguishes political motivation from hate crime criteria.
