An Egyptian court yesterday condemned a well-known television presenter and 11 people to death for manufacturing and trafficking narcotics in a vast drugs case, official media said.
Most famous is 39-year-old Sarah Khalifa for her program “Mission Impossible” tackling topics around security and criminality.
A Cairo court handed down death sentences by hanging to Khalifa and 11 other defendants on charges of forming an organised criminal gang specialising in procuring materials used in manufacturing narcotics, with the intent to traffic them, and possessing and carrying unlicensed firearms and ammunition, the state-linked Al-Ahram newspaper said. Articles
The verdict came after the court asked for the religious opinion of the Grand Mufti of Egypt, a step mandated by Egyptian law in capital trials.
The verdict is subject to appeal
Khalifa also owns a plastic surgery clinic and a production firm that specialises in parties and events.
The suspects were accused with “producing synthetic drugs for the purpose of trafficking, by importing the ingredients from abroad”, the state-run Akhbar Al-Youm daily reported.
Al-Ahram said that authorities seized more than 750 kg of narcotics and raw materials, and discovered two flats being used as laboratories as well as unauthorised rifles and ammunition.
The court also sentenced Khalifa and others to five years in prison on a different charge of kidnapping and assaulting a young guy.
The death sentence is used in Egypt for premeditated murder, terrorism, some sexual offences and drug trafficking.
In 2025 alone, according to the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, 541 death sentences were handed down in Egypt.
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