A Cairo criminal court has sentenced Egyptian television presenter Sarah Khalifa, 39, and 11 other defendants to death by hanging after convicting them of forming an organised criminal gang that imported raw materials to manufacture and traffic synthetic drugs.
The verdict was first announced last month and confirmed after the court obtained a non-binding religious opinion from Egypt's grand mufti, a legal requirement in capital cases. The sentence can be appealed before the Court of Cassation.
Nine co-defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment. Seven others were acquitted. The case involved a total of 28 defendants.
Khalifa is best known for hosting the security and crime programme "Mission Impossible", which aired on the private Al-Mehwar TV channel. She also owned a cosmetic surgery clinic and an event planning company, and had over two million Instagram followers.
Prosecutors said the gang imported raw materials from abroad to manufacture synthetic drugs, storing them in residential properties used as laboratories. Members divided roles between procurement, manufacturing and distribution. Investigators seized more than 750 kilograms of narcotics and raw materials, along with unlicensed firearms and ammunition.
Twenty witnesses gave statements to prosecutors, according to state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper, alongside electronic evidence including conversations and video clips.
Khalifa denied all charges. She told investigators she had "never smoked a cigarette in my life" and declared her innocence. When asked by the judge about her alleged role during a court appearance last September, she said she had never seen any drugs until she was photographed with them inside the anti-narcotics authority offices.
Egyptian media reported that she wept during the session and appealed to the court for mercy: "Please listen to me, sir. My parents raised me well; they are people who pray, and I don't need drug money."
Khalifa was arrested in April 2025 as part of the investigation. Her lawyer confirmed she would appeal the death sentence.
In a separate case heard on the same day, the same court sentenced Khalifa to three years in prison for assaulting and filming her driver. According to one source, she and others were also sentenced to five years in prison in a separate case involving the kidnapping and assault of a young man.
Egypt applies the death penalty for drug trafficking, terrorism, some rape offences and premeditated murder.
Figures on the scale of capital punishment in Egypt in 2025 differ between sources. According to a report by Amnesty International, 492 death sentences were recorded during the year, 23 of which were carried out. The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms put the number of death sentences issued in 2025 at 541.
The Amnesty report noted that defendants in Egypt have been sentenced to death for crimes including drug trafficking and rape, which it described as "crimes that did not amount to 'intentional killing' to which the use of the death penalty must be restricted under international law and standards."
