Egyptian television presenter Sarah Khalifa has been sentenced to death by hanging after an Egyptian court convicted her and eleven other defendants on drugs charges, in one of the country’s most high-profile criminal cases in recent years.
Khalifa is best known for hosting a television programme called Mission Impossible, which focused on crime issues. According to state-owned newspaper al-Ahram, she and her co-defendants were part of a criminal gang. One that imported raw materials used to manufacture drugs with the intent of selling them. The group was also found in possession of illegal firearms and munitions. During the trial, authorities confirmed that more than 750 kilogrammes of narcotics and drug-making materials had been seized. Twenty witnesses gave statements to prosecutors, and the case was supported by electronic evidence including conversations and video clips.
When asked about her alleged role during a court appearance last September, Khalifa told the judge she had never seen any drugs until she was photographed alongside them inside anti-narcotics authority offices. She has denied the charges throughout and her lawyer confirmed an appeal against the death sentence would be filed.
Nine other defendants in the case have been sentenced to life imprisonment. On the other hand, seven were acquitted. The verdict was first announced last month and formally confirmed this week after the court obtained a religious opinion from Egypt’s grand mufti.
Capital Punishment in Egypt
The confirmation of the sentence has drawn attention to Egypt’s broader use of capital punishment. A 2025 Amnesty International report recorded 492 death sentences in Egypt over the course of that year. Out of which, 23 were carried out.
Amnesty noted that several defendants convicted of drug trafficking and rape in Egyptian courts had been sentenced to death for “crimes that did not amount to intentional killing”. Crimes which it said fell outside the international legal standards under which the death penalty should be restricted.
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