CAIRO, Egypt: A Cairo court sentenced television presenter Sarah Khalifa and 11 other defendants to death after convicting them in a synthetic drug manufacturing and trafficking case.
Khalifa, 39, denies the charges and can appeal the ruling. Authorities said raids on two properties uncovered more than 750 kilograms of synthetic drugs, raw chemicals, firearms and ammunition.
State newspaper Al-Ahram said the court convicted the defendants of forming an organised criminal gang that obtained materials for manufacturing narcotics and intended to traffic them. Akhbar el-Yom reported that the group imported chemical ingredients from abroad.
Prosecutors alleged that Khalifa financed the operation and travelled abroad to communicate with international criminal figures. They presented 20 witness statements as well as messages, photographs and videos as evidence.
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Khalifa rejected the allegations in court. She said she had never seen drugs before authorities photographed her beside seized narcotics and maintained that she was innocent.
The court formally announced the capital sentences Saturday after referring the case to Egypt’s Grand Mufti for a non-binding religious opinion, as required in capital cases.
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Of the 28 defendants, the court sentenced 12 to death and nine to life imprisonment. It acquitted seven others. Those sentenced to death may appeal to Egypt’s Court of Cassation.
Khalifa, who has about 2.5 million Instagram followers, presents the crime-focused television programme “Mission Impossible.”
