Crime05 September, 20262 min read
Egypt Court Sentences TV Presenter Sarah Khalifa and 11 Others to Death by Hanging
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Sarah Khalifa and 11 others sentenced to death by hanging in a drug trafficking case. Courts found them part of an organized gang procuring materials used to manufacture narcotics.
Death Sentence in Cairo
An Egyptian court in Cairo sentenced TV presenter Sarah Khalifa, 39, and 11 others to death by hanging for manufacturing and trafficking narcotics in a case involving an organised criminal gang. The state-linked Al-Ahram newspaper said the court convicted “Khalifa and 11 other defendants to death by hanging” after consulting the Grand Mufti of Egypt for a religious opinion required by Egyptian law in capital cases.
Al-Ahram reported authorities seized more than 750kg of narcotics and raw materials, and found “two apartments used as laboratories” along with unlicensed firearms and ammunition. The court also sentenced Khalifa and others to five years in prison over a separate case involving the kidnapping and assault of a young man, and the verdict was described as subject to appeal.
Appeal and courtroom claims
Khalifa’s lawyer, Mohamed El-Gendy, confirmed that the verdict will be appealed, as the case moves through Egypt’s court system. The New York Post said Khalifa launched a plea in which she claimed she didn’t need “drug money,” and it described her appeal as a “desperate appeal” to halt her execution.
In court, Al-Ahram and other state-linked reporting framed the charges as forming an organised criminal group to procure substances used in drug manufacture for the purpose of trafficking, and possessing and carrying unlicensed firearms and ammunition. Al Jazeera reported that Khalifa told investigators she had “never smoked a cigarette in my life” and declared her innocence, while also saying she was weeping and crying during the session and asking the court for mercy.
Broader death-penalty stakes
The case also highlights Egypt’s wider use of capital punishment, with the Guardian stating that Egypt applies the death penalty for premeditated murder, terrorism, some rape offences and drug trafficking. The Guardian reported that “541 death sentences were issued in Egypt in 2025,” and it said the verdict in Khalifa’s case is subject to appeal.
Al Jazeera added that the death sentences were issued after the court consulted Egypt’s grand mufti for his non-binding religious opinion as required by law in capital cases, and it said the verdict can be appealed before the Court of Cassation. In parallel, the BBC reported that Khalifa and 11 others were sentenced to death by hanging, while nine co-defendants received life imprisonment and seven were acquitted, underscoring the split outcomes for the 28 defendants in the trial.