The gang was charged with “manufacturing synthetic drugs with the intent to traffic them, by importing the materials used in manufacturing from abroad,” state-run media outlet Akhbar el-Yom reported.
The group used a residential property in the capital to “store and manufacture the drugs”, it was claimed.
Prosecutors told the court that Khalifa – who also owns a cosmetic surgery clinic and an event production firm – bankrolled the cartel and travelled overseas to liaise directly with international crime bosses.
The drugs scheme is said to have involved a detailed network, with some members responsible for obtaining materials while others handled assembly and distribution.
The prosecution presented 20 witness statements alongside digital evidence, including messages, photographs and videos that they said documented the group’s activities.
Asked by the judge about her alleged role, Khalifa told a court last September that she had “never seen any drugs” until she was photographed alongside them inside the anti-narcotics authority offices.
She told the court: “I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life, your honour. I’m begging you for mercy, I swear to God, I’m innocent.”
Khalifa also cried during her court appearance, telling the judge: “Please listen to me, sir. My parents raised me well; they are people who pray, and I don’t need drug money,” Egyptian media reported.
The capital convictions were formally confirmed and announced after the case was referred to the Grand Mufti of Egypt for a non-binding religious opinion, a legal requirement in Egyptian capital cases.
Of the 28 defendants in the trial, 12 were sentenced to death by hanging. Nine received life sentences, and seven were acquitted.
Khalifa and the other defendants sentenced to death can appeal to the Court of Cassation, Egypt’s highest court for criminal cases.
She was arrested in April 2025. Khalifa and several co-defendants were also handed an additional five-year prison term over a separate case involving the kidnapping and assault of a young man.
Prosecutors said two people from the syndicate remained at large and had been placed on travel bans and watch lists.
Capital punishment via hanging is legal in Egypt for drug trafficking, terrorism and premeditated murder. A firing squad is used for serving military personnel.
According to the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, 541 death sentences were issued in the country in 2025.
In 2020, the number of executions in Egypt tripled from the year before, making the country the third leading executioner behind China and Iran, according to a report by Amnesty International.
The human rights charity said courts in the past had “imposed death sentences following unfair trials”.
Khalifa was briefly married to Mahmoud Kharaba, an Egyptian football player, in 2016.
Kharaba plays as a left winger for ENPPI SC, an Egyptian football club based in East Cairo.
Posts on Khalifa’s social media accounts document her lifestyle, including travels to Paris and Dubai, clips from television shows and promotion for her cosmetic surgery company.
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