What investigators found in narcotics ring that put Egyptian TV host Sarah Khalifa 39 on death row

An Egyptian television presenter has been sentenced to death after being convicted of operating an organized narcotics trafficking ring, according to reports.

Sarah Khalifa, 39, is the host of “Mission Impossible” and a cosmetic clinic owner who has 2.6 million followers on Instagram.

The television host was among 12 people sentenced to death in Cairo on Saturday, according to reports.

Khalifa, her brother, Mohamed, and 10 others were among those handed capital punishment sentences following their convictions, court records show.

On top of the 12 defendants condemned to death, nine others were hit with life imprisonment sentences. Seven other defendants in the case were acquitted by the court.

Her defense lawyer, Mohamed El-Gendy, has confirmed that the verdict will be appealed, National News reported Monday.

Khalifa broke down in tears during the proceedings, pleading before the bench that she did not need “drug money.” The judges rejected her tearful plea and ordered her execution, according to reports.

The presenter maintained that she had “never smoked a cigarette” in her life. Prosecutors nonetheless moved forward with capital charges against the clinic owner, according to reports.

Khalifa was originally arrested and formally charged last April, according to reports.

The defendants were convicted of running an organized gang that imported raw materials to make illicit narcotics, according to prosecutors.

Gang members allegedly stored the chemical supplies inside various properties, prosecutors said.

The participants divided up operational roles ranging from sourcing raw materials to manufacturing and distributing the drugs, prosecutors said.

More than 1,650 pounds of narcotics were seized by authorities as part of the investigation, the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram reported.

Khalifa is now bidding to halt her execution and get the death penalty sentence overturned entirely, according to reports.

The television host faces a complex legal battle to get her capital sentence commuted or overturned, according to reports.

If an appeal is launched, a higher Egyptian court will hear the evidence stacked against Khalifa, according to reports.

The higher court could uphold the death penalty ruling that was issued by the Cairo criminal court. Alternatively, the court could reduce or overturn the sentence.

If the court upholds the sentence, Khalifa’s lawyer could take the case to the Egyptian Court of Cassation, according to reports.

The Court of Cassation is essentially the Arab nation’s supreme court. The court does not consider new evidence, reviewing appeals solely on the basis of legal discrepancies that may have arisen.

Egypt’s Court of Cassation has established precedence in overturning death penalty sentences, legal records show.

Former Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi had his death sentence quashed by the high court in 2016, with a retrial ordered.

Morsi had been sentenced one year earlier for his role in a 2011 prison break that saw then-president Hosni Mubarak removed from office.

The previous year, the court overturned the death sentences of 36 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, according to court records.

The high court has also moved to uphold capital punishment sentences in mass trials. In 2021, 12 people, including members of the Muslim Brotherhood, were sentenced to death following a mass trial over demonstrations in Cairo’s Rabaa El Adawiya square in the summer of 2013, Amnesty International revealed.

Egypt was one of seven countries across the Arab world known to have carried out executions last year, according to the renowned human rights group.

Officials handed down some 541 death sentences in 2025, according to the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms.

Capital punishment in the country is reserved for a select number of crimes, including drug trafficking, terrorism, premeditated murder, and certain rape cases.

Khalifa remains held under sentence of death as her defense counsel prepares to launch the formal appeal to halt her execution.