Egyptian Broadcaster and Influencer Sentenced to Death After Gang and Drug Convictions

Sara Khalifa, a television presenter and social media influencer with 2.5 million Instagram followers, has been sentenced to death by hanging in Egypt. She was convicted with 11 other members of a criminal organization accused of importing chemicals used to manufacture and traffic illegal drugs.

Khalifa is best known in Egypt for hosting the crime program “Mission Impossible.” Authorities uncovered what they described as hidden drug laboratories in two apartments in Cairo. During raids last year, armed police seized more than 750 kilograms of synthetic drugs, raw chemicals, weapons, and ammunition.

According to Egypt’s state-owned Al-Ahram and Akhbar Al-Youm, prosecutors accused the group of establishing an organization to obtain materials for drug production and trafficking. The gang was also accused of possessing firearms and ammunition without licenses and of manufacturing synthetic drugs from imported raw materials.

Prosecutors told the court that Khalifa financed the cartel and traveled abroad to communicate with international crime bosses. They presented 20 testimonies as well as recorded conversations and video evidence. Khalifa denies the allegations. When questioned by a judge last September, she said she had never seen drugs until she was filmed beside them at the offices of the local anti-narcotics authority.

The death sentences were formally announced after the case went to Egypt’s Grand Mufti for a nonbinding opinion, as required in death penalty cases. Of the 28 defendants tried, 12 received death sentences, nine were sentenced to life imprisonment, and seven were acquitted. Khalifa and several others also received five-year prison terms in a separate case involving the kidnapping and physical assault of a young man. All 12 condemned defendants have the right to appeal to Egypt’s Court of Cassation.