Egyptian TV presenter Sarah Khalifa, 12 others sentenced to death in drug case

A Cairo court has sentenced 12 people, including popular Egyptian television presenter Sarah Khalifa, to death in a drug trafficking case. They were accused of forming an organized criminal gang to collect drug-making materials and producing and trafficking synthetic drugs.

39-year-old Sarah Khalifa is known as the host of a crime show called "Mission Impossible." She also has a large following on social media. Investigators claim that the accused gang used two residential apartments as secret laboratories to collect raw materials for drug production from abroad. Authorities said they seized more than 750 kg of drugs and drug-making materials in the operation.

In addition to drug trafficking, the case also included charges of possessing unlicensed firearms and ammunition. The court's verdict was taken before the opinion of Egypt's Grand Mufti, which is a common procedure in death penalty cases under the country's law.

Sarah Khalifa, however, has denied the charges against her from the beginning. Her lawyer said that the verdict will be appealed to a higher court. As a result, the death sentence is not yet effective and the case is still pending further legal proceedings.

Nine other people have been sentenced to life imprisonment in this case and seven have been acquitted. The simultaneous death sentences of so many people in a drug case have generated widespread discussion both in Egypt and internationally.