An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced prominent television presenter Sara Khalifa and 11 other defendants to death for manufacturing and trafficking drugs in a major narcotics case.
Khalifa, 39, is best known for her program “Mission Impossible,” which focused on security- and crime-related issues.
Sara Khalifa
(Photo: The Guardian)
Egypt’s Al-Ahram newspaper reported that a Cairo court sentenced Khalifa and the 11 other defendants to death by hanging for establishing an organized crime gang specializing in obtaining materials used to manufacture drugs for trafficking, as well as for possessing and carrying unlicensed firearms and ammunition.
Authorities seized more than 750 kilograms of drugs and raw materials, according to the report. They also found unlicensed weapons and ammunition and discovered two apartments that had been used as drug laboratories.
Egyptian reports said the defendants “manufactured synthetic drugs for the purpose of trafficking them, using materials imported from abroad for their production.”
Khalifa also owns a cosmetic surgery clinic and a production company specializing in organizing parties and events.
In addition to the death sentence, Khalifa and others were sentenced to five years in prison in a separate case involving the kidnapping and assault of a young man.
The ruling can be appealed. It was issued after the court consulted Egypt’s Grand Mufti and received his religious opinion, a procedure required under Egyptian law in cases involving a death sentence.
Egypt imposes the death penalty for premeditated murder, terrorism, certain rape offenses and drug trafficking. According to the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, 541 death sentences were handed down in Egypt in 2025.