Popular Egyptian television presenter Sarah Khalifa will sign appeal papers against her death sentence on Tuesday, her lawyer Mohamed El-Gendy said.
Khalifa was convicted last week alongside 11 others in a synthetic drug manufacturing and trafficking case.
She has consistently denied any involvement, saying she had never even smoked a cigarette in her life.
Euronews looked into what Egyptian law says about capital punishment in drug cases and what the appeals process could mean for Khalifa and her co-defendants.
Why can a drugs case carry the death penalty?
Egyptian drug law allows the death penalty for some of the most serious narcotics offences, while simple possession for personal use does not carry the same charges.
Under Article 33, capital punishment can apply to offences including importing narcotics without authorisation, manufacturing them for trafficking, and forming, managing or joining a drug trafficking gang.
Prosecutors accused the 28 defendants in Khalifa’s case of taking part in an organised network that brought in materials used to manufacture drugs and divided responsibilities between sourcing, production, storage and distribution.
The Cairo-born Khalifa, known for hosting the crime show “Mission Impossible,” was accused of providing money used to buy materials for the operation, travelling abroad to meet senior members of the network and helping coordinate its activities.
Her brother Mohamed, who was also sentenced to death, was accused of manufacturing the drugs and helping test batches after they were produced.
Forensic experts identified MDMB-4en-PINACA among the seized substances. It is a laboratory-made synthetic cannabinoid that can produce effects similar to cannabis but can be much stronger and more unpredictable.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says the substance has been associated with severe adverse effects, including fatal intoxications.
Its legal status also became an issue at trial. A court-appointed committee said MDMB-4en-PINACA was not specifically named on Egypt’s controlled narcotics list, but concluded that it was still covered by the law because its chemical structure and effects were similar to substances already listed.
The defence challenged that interpretation, but the court accepted the committee’s findings.
What happens next for Khalifa?
Egypt changed its criminal procedure in 2024 by introducing a full appeal stage for felony cases.
Previously, felony judgments did not have the same two-level trial structure. Under the new system, a person convicted of a felony can appeal to a higher criminal court called the Felony Appeals Court.
Egypt’s Court of Cassation says the change allows the appeals court to reconsider the case. In practical terms, judges can review the evidence, the prosecution’s case, and the role attributed to each defendant.
The court can uphold the judgment, change the sentence or overturn the conviction.
Only after that stage can a further challenge go to Egypt’s Court of Cassation.
The Court of Cassation has a different role. It does not rehear the whole case, but looks mainly at whether the law was applied correctly and whether there were serious procedural problems.
Before the Cairo court formally sentenced Khalifa to death, it referred her case and those of 12 other defendants to Egypt’s Grand Mufti.
Under Egyptian procedure, judges who intend to impose the death penalty must agree unanimously and seek the Mufti’s opinion before formally delivering the sentence.
The Mufti’s opinion is advisory and does not bind the court.
After receiving the opinion, the court sentenced Khalifa and 11 others to death. Their right to appeal remained.
Can a death sentence really change on appeal?
Recent cases show that Egypt’s Felony Appeals Courts can significantly change earlier judgments.
In August, a Felony Appeals Court in Mansoura overturned a death sentence in an unrelated murder case and instead sentenced the defendant to 15 years in prison. The court heard witnesses and reviewed the case papers before changing the sentence.
Appeals courts have also significantly reduced sentences in drug cases. In March, a Cairo Felony Appeals Court reduced a life sentence to seven years for a defendant convicted of trafficking the drug commonly known as “ice”.
The defence had challenged issues including the arrest and search procedures and an alleged confession.
In the high-profile case of Karim Salim, known in Egyptian media as the “Fifth Settlement Serial Killer”, the Felony Appeals Court upheld his death sentence, and the Court of Cassation later rejected his challenge, making the sentence final.
The cases do not indicate how Khalifa’s appeal will be decided, but show that the first appeal can significantly change a judgment.
If the Court of Cassation ultimately upholds a death sentence or rejects the final challenge against it, the sentence becomes final.
Separate procedures then take place before it can be carried out, including sending the case through the justice minister to the president, who can pardon the defendant or reduce the sentence.
What has changed since the verdict?
Khalifa has made no new public statements since the verdict. During the court proceedings, however, she repeatedly denied involvement in drugs and insisted she was innocent.
Another lawyer on her defence team, Mohamed Hamouda, has called for the appeal proceedings to receive wider media coverage, including the defence arguments and witness questioning.
Separate court documents released this week have provided new details about an assault case in which Khalifa was sentenced to three years in prison.
The case also involved Fathi el-Abyad, another defendant in the same drugs case, who prosecutors described as one of the alleged founders of the network. He was also among those sentenced to death alongside Khalifa.
According to the judgment, the driver had told his own brother, who worked for Egypt’s Interior Ministry, where el-Abyad could be found.
The court said Khalifa learned of this and then lured the driver to her apartment in Cairo’s Agouza district. Two other defendants later arrived and assaulted him, stripped him and filmed him while el-Abyad remained in contact by phone.
The footage was discovered when investigators examined Khalifa’s phone during the drugs investigation.
