An Egyptian television presenter begged for mercy and shouted, “I have never smoked a cigarette in my life!” while according to local media she was sentenced to death on drug charges.
Sarah Khalifa and eleven others were sentenced to death on charges of manufacturing, promoting and trafficking synthetic drugs, and possessing and carrying firearms and ammunition without a permit.
Khalifa, 39, who is best known in Egypt for the presentation of ‘Mission Impossible’, a program about crime and security, was convicted by a Cairo court.
“I swear by God Almighty, with the strongest oath, that I have been wronged,” she allegedly shouted from the court, according to CNN.
She cried during the sentencing and begged for “mercy and humanity,” the newspaper claimed.
Khalifa also reportedly told the court that she was suffering from a tumor.
The ruling came after the court consulted Egypt’s Grand Mufti on his religious views, a procedure required by Egyptian law in capital cases.
The judgment is not final at this stage and may be appealed.
Sarah Khalifa and eleven others were sentenced to death on charges of manufacturing, promoting and trafficking synthetic drugs, and possessing and carrying firearms and ammunition without a license
The state-affiliated newspaper Al-Ahram said the trial was based on 20 witness statements and photographic evidence of Khalifa’s alleged criminal activities.
The defendants are accused of using two apartments as laboratories to “store and manufacture the drugs.”
According to the Public Prosecution Service, investigators have seized “more than 750 kilos of synthetic narcotics and raw materials used in their production.”
Another nine suspects were sentenced to life imprisonment and another seven were acquitted.
Khalifa, who has 2.6 million Instagram followers, was arrested in April last year.
She uses her social media platform to advertise her cosmetic surgery clinic.
Two other suspects wanted in connection with the drug gang are still at large and have been placed on a travel ban and watch list, according to the prosecutor.
The death penalty is used by the Egyptian authorities for crimes such as terrorism, premeditated murder, rape and drug trafficking.
The 39-year-old leads her own Egyptian television show and has more than 2.5 million Instagram followers
Khalifa, a production company owner, was also sentenced to five years in prison over a case involving the kidnapping and assault of a young man.
According to Amnesty International, courts have imposed death sentences in the past “after grossly unfair trials.”
Egypt’s Commission for Rights and Freedoms claimed that more than 500 death sentences were handed down last year.
The country executed 23 prisoners.
Production company owner Khalifa was also sentenced to five years in prison along with others over a separate case involving the kidnapping and assault of a young man.
When the case first became public in April 2025, the Home Office announced the seizure of around 200 kilos of narcotics and raw materials, as well as gold jewellery, sums of money in local and foreign currency, and five cars, which it said were proceeds of criminal activity, estimating the value of these seizures at around £420 million.
Further investigation revealed that the total amount of drugs and raw materials seized in the case was more than 750 kilograms.
Egyptian reports estimate their market value, after production, at more than a billion.
Khalifa founded the company ‘Sarah Production’ and organized events and concerts in Egypt and a number of Gulf countries.
She presented the program ‘Sarah and Beka’ on YouTube in 2024, together with festival artist Hamo Beka, where artists and celebrities were guests.
She is associated with a beauty center in Cairo’s Agouza district, whose services she promotes online.
