Mission Impossible presenter sentenced to death in drug trafficking case

Television presenter Sarah Khalifa has been sentenced to death in Egypt in a case involving alleged narcotics manufacturing and trafficking. A Cairo court handed the same sentence to 11 other defendants.

Khalifa, 39, is best known for Mission Impossible, a television program focused on security and crime. After the verdict, she reacted in a post on X, shouting: “I've never smoked a cigarette in my life. I swear to God, I'm innocent.”

The state-linked Al-Ahram newspaper said the defendants were convicted of forming an organized criminal gang to obtain materials used to manufacture narcotics, trafficking the drugs and possessing unlicensed firearms and ammunition. State-run Akhbar Al-Youm reported that prosecutors accused them of making synthetic drugs for distribution after importing production materials from abroad.

Authorities seized more than 750 kilograms of narcotics and raw materials, according to Al-Ahram. They also found two apartments allegedly used as laboratories, as well as unlicensed firearms and ammunition. The court consulted Egypt’s Grand Mufti before issuing the capital sentences, as required by Egyptian law. The verdict remains subject to appeal.

The court separately sentenced Khalifa and others to five years in prison in a case involving the kidnapping and assault of a young man. Khalifa also owns a plastic surgery clinic and an events production company, and has 2.5 million Instagram followers. Egypt applies the death penalty in cases including drug trafficking, while the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms said around 541 death sentences were issued in the country in 2025.

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I've never smoked a cigarette in my life. I swear to God, I'm innocent.