Boulder Firebombing Suspect Pleads Not Guilty, Smiles in Court After Attacking Hostage Rally
A suspect accused of firebombing a pro-Israel rally in Boulder, Colorado, pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges, having targeted the event after a year of planning. The attack, which injured 15 people, has sparked significant legal and political repercussions amid ongoing regional tensions.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, a 45-year-old Egyptian national, has pleaded not guilty to 12 federal hate crime charges in a Denver courtroom for his role in a firebombing attack on June 1, 2025, targeting a pro-Israel rally in Boulder, Colorado. Soliman, visibly bandaged on his right hand and arm from burns sustained during the attack, entered the courtroom in a khaki uniform, smiling and clutching an envelope while handcuffed. He listened to the proceedings through an Arabic interpreter via headphones but remained silent during the hearing. The attack, which injured 15 people, including a Holocaust survivor, occurred at the Pearl Street Mall during a weekly Run for Their Lives demonstration advocating for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Court documents reveal Soliman meticulously planned the attack for over a year, delaying until his daughter graduated high school in May 2025. Initially intending to use firearms, he resorted to Molotov cocktails after being denied gun purchases due to his non-citizen status. Disguising himself as a gardener with an orange vest and flowers purchased from Home Depot, Soliman carried a backpack sprayer filled with gasoline and threw two lit Molotov cocktails into the crowd while shouting “Free Palestine.” Authorities recovered 16 unused incendiary devices, made from glass wine carafes and canning jars filled with gasoline, at the scene. Soliman allegedly told investigators he targeted the “Zionist group” after finding them online, expressing no remorse and stating he “wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead.”
Soliman, who entered the U.S. in August 2022 on a B2 tourist visa that expired in February 2023, applied for asylum in September 2022. His work permit, granted in March 2023, expired in March 2024, rendering him undocumented. Alongside the federal charges, he faces 118 state charges, including 28 counts of attempted first-degree murder, with a $10 million bond. Three victims remain hospitalized, and the FBI continues to investigate the heinous attack as an act of terrorism.