TV Presenter sentenced to death after conviction in drug trafficking ring

An Egyptian TV presenter is one of 12 people sentenced to death by hanging following convictions on drug trafficking charges.

Local state media reports they were convicted of being part of a criminal gang that imported ingredients for drugs into Egypt, and are also accused of possessing illegal weapons.

39-year-old Sarah Khalifa denied the charges against her, saying she'd never even 'smoked a cigarette in her life', saying that her parents raised her right and she didn't even need the money she was accused of making from the gang.

Her legal representatives said they would appeal against her death sentence, claiming that she never saw any of the drugs until she was in custody and photographed with them.

A further 11 others also scheduled for execution, while nine others have been sentenced to life in prison and seven more people were acquitted.

Sarah Khalifa and 11 others have been sentenced to death in Egypt after being convicted of being part of a criminal gang (Instagram/sara_khaliifa)

Khalifa presented the TV show Mission Impossible, not to be confused with the movie series of the same name, which was focused on crime.

The death sentences were announced last month, but since it takes a religious opinion to confirm a death penalty in Egypt the court case had to wait for the country's grand mufti to approve it.

A court heard that police had seized over 750kg of narcotic materials as part of their investigation into the drug smuggling criminal gang.

In Egypt crimes of drug trafficking, terrorism and premeditated murder carry the death penalty, and it is the drug trafficking which the dozen people have been sentenced to death on.

Khalifa and the others sentenced to death do still have the right to appeal their sentences so it is possible that they may yet avoid the noose.

Khalifa denies that she was involved and plans to appeal against her death sentence (Instagram/sara_khaliifa)

Amnesty International reports that in Egypt courts 'imposed death sentences following unfair trials', and carried out executions following unfair trials which had resulted in the death penalty.

In a 2025 report they warned that 'recorded executions almost doubled' in the country from the previous year, with the total number of people put to death by the state increasing from 13 to 23, and that 492 people had been sentenced to death that year.

Another state-linked outlet declared: "Khalifa and 11 other defendants to death by hanging 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."

It can take between several months and several years from a death sentence being issued to an execution being carried out in Egypt.