CAIRO — An Egyptian criminal court on Saturday sentenced television presenter and producer Sarah Khalifa and 11 other defendants to death by hanging after convicting them of forming an organised criminal gang that imported raw materials, manufactured synthetic drugs and trafficked them.
Khalifa, 39, is best known for the programme Mission Impossible, which focused on security and crime. She also owns a cosmetic surgery clinic and an events production company. She was arrested in Cairo in April 2025.
The Cairo Criminal Court found the defendants guilty of procuring materials used to manufacture narcotics with intent to traffic them, as well as possessing and carrying unlicensed firearms and ammunition. State-linked newspaper Al-Ahram reported that authorities seized more than 750 kilograms of narcotics and raw materials and discovered two apartments used as laboratories.
Prosecutors alleged that Khalifa helped finance the operation and travelled abroad to meet alleged leaders of the network and coordinate with other members. The group was described as having divided roles among importation, manufacturing and distribution. Two alleged ringleaders, including an Iraqi national, remain at large.
The case involved 28 defendants in total. The court also sentenced nine people to life imprisonment and acquitted seven. The death sentences followed consultation with Egypt’s Grand Mufti, a required step in capital cases, though the mufti’s opinion is advisory. The verdicts can be appealed.
The court additionally sentenced Khalifa and others 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, premeditated murder, terrorism and certain other offences. Saturday’s ruling in the case widely known in Egyptian media as the “grand drugs case” is not final.
