Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
An Egyptian criminal court has sentenced television host Sarah Khalifa and 12 co-defendants to death in a major case involving the alleged manufacture and trafficking of synthetic narcotics.
The Cairo Criminal Court also imposed life sentences on nine defendants and acquitted seven others. The ruling follows a lengthy investigation into a group that prosecutors say imported chemical materials, manufactured synthetic drugs in Egypt and distributed them through an organized criminal network.
The case, which has drawn significant public attention because of Khalifa’s profile as a television personality and social media figure, began after her arrest in April 2025. Prosecutors allege that she and the other defendants were part of a coordinated operation that used a residential property to store precursor chemicals and produce narcotics.
Authorities said they seized more than 750 kilograms of synthetic drugs and materials that could be used in their manufacture. Prosecutors also accused the group of possessing firearms and ammunition without the required licenses.
The indictment reportedly named 28 defendants in total. Investigators said the alleged organization had divided responsibilities among its members. Some suspects were allegedly involved in bringing raw materials into Egypt, while others handled manufacturing, storage or distribution. Two defendants who remain at large were reportedly placed on travel restriction lists and flagged to immigration authorities.
The prosecution’s case was built around testimony from 20 witnesses as well as forensic and digital evidence. Investigators cited text messages, photographs and videos that they said showed the defendants’ involvement in the organization’s activities. Prosecutors also sought precautionary measures against the accused, including the freezing of bank accounts and the seizure or review of assets connected to the case.
Khalifa has denied knowing about the alleged drug operation. Her defense team has challenged both the accusations and the evidence presented by investigators. According to court documents cited in local reports, her lawyers argued that the substances seized by authorities did not meet the legal definition of narcotics and questioned the legality of the arrest and search procedures.
The television host was arrested in Cairo on April 17, 2025, according to the case materials. However, reports have noted a discrepancy between the date Khalifa gave prosecutors and the date recorded in the formal seizure report. That issue has become part of the defense’s wider challenge to the prosecution’s handling of the investigation.
Khalifa became known to Egyptian audiences through appearances on television programs and built a large following on social media. Reports have said she had more than three million followers on Instagram before her arrest. Despite being widely described as a television host, she was reportedly not registered as a member of Egypt’s media professionals’ union.
The death sentences were referred to Egypt’s Grand Mufti, a required step in capital cases. The Mufti’s review is advisory rather than binding, meaning the court is not legally required to follow his opinion. The referral is nevertheless a significant stage in Egypt’s death-penalty process before a final judgment is issued.
Earlier reports described the death penalty decision as preliminary while the court awaited the Mufti’s opinion. Later reports said the court formally issued its verdict and imposed the death sentences. Regardless of the wording used to describe the ruling, the defendants retain the right to challenge the decision before Egypt’s Court of Cassation, the country’s highest court for criminal appeals.
The case has renewed attention on Egypt’s severe treatment of drug-trafficking offenses. Egyptian prosecutors have argued that the alleged organization posed a serious threat to public health because of the scale of the operation and the potential profits involved. The country’s legal system allows capital punishment in certain drug cases, particularly those involving trafficking, organized criminal activity or large quantities of narcotics.
Human rights organizations have criticized the use of the death penalty for non-lethal offenses and have raised concerns about fair-trial protections in Egyptian criminal proceedings. Amnesty International has reported that Egypt carried out executions in recent years and issued hundreds of death sentences, including in cases linked to drug crimes. Critics argue that capital punishment should be restricted to crimes involving the intentional killing of another person.
The ruling is separate from another case in which Khalifa has reportedly been accused of detaining and assaulting a former driver. Prosecutors allegedly relied on digital material recovered from her phone after her arrest in the drug investigation. Khalifa has denied those allegations, and her lawyers have questioned both the evidence and the court’s jurisdiction.
For now, the drug case remains subject to the appeals process. The death sentences will not necessarily result in immediate executions, and the Court of Cassation can uphold, reduce or overturn the punishments. The final outcome will depend on the appeals filed by Khalifa and the other convicted defendants, as well as any further review of the prosecution’s evidence and the procedures used during the investigation.
