Man pleads guilty to Colorado firebombing, groups call for family reprieve

Mohamed Soliman, accused of attacking demonstrators who had gathered in support of Israeli captives held in Gaza in Colorado, has pleaded guilty to murder charges.

The plea on Thursday was accompanied by renewed calls for the administration of US President Donald Trump to cease efforts to deport Soliman’s family, who authorities have said had no prior knowledge of the attack that they have roundly condemned.

The family had been the longest held in US immigration detention under Trump’s second term before their release in late April. The administration has pledged to continue to pursue deportation.

Soliman has faced more than 100 state criminal charges related to the June 2025 attack. The video showed him throwing Molotov cocktails at demonstrators gathered in Boulder, Colorado. An 82-year-old woman, Karen Diamond, later died from wounds sustained during the attack.

The 46-year-old Egyptian citizen pleaded guilty to two different categories of murder charges connected to Diamond’s death, both of which carry life sentences. Soliman has also been charged with federal hate crime crimes.

In a statement read in court by a prosecutor, Diamond’s sons asked that Soliman not be allowed to see his family again “since he is responsible for our mother never seeing her family again”.

Andrew and Ethan Diamond said their mother suffered “indescribable pain” for more than three weeks before her death.

“In those weeks, we learned the full meaning of the expressions living hell and fate worse than death,” Diamond’s sons said in the statement.

Family detained

Following the attack, the White House promised to quickly deport Soliman’s wife, Hayam El Gamal and their five children, ranging in age from five to 18 years old. Lawmakers and community groups have decried the effort as collective punishment.

The family has flatly condemned the attack and denied any knowledge that it was going to take place, with El Gamal divorcing her husband shortly after the incident.

An FBI agent subsequently testified under oath that there was no evidence that the family, who have not been charged with any crimes, was aware of the father’s plan.

After being held for 10 months at an immigration detention centre in Dilley, Texas, a judge ordered the family released in late April.

However, they were re-detained during a scheduled ICE check-in shortly after, in what their lawyer, Eric Lee, has decried as a “kidnapping”. The family was again released after their deportation flight was ordered grounded by a judge.

In a statement to Al Jazeera in April, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson maintained that the “terrorist’s family” had been ordered released by an “activist judge”. The statement said the agency will “continue to fight for the removal of those who have no right to be in our country—especially terrorists and their associates”.