A TV star could face hellish conditions inside a prison which numerous organisations state has violated the human rights of inmates
A glamorous TV star who has been sentenced to death by hanging is awaiting her fate in a hellish prison. The horrific jailhouse has been accused of numerous human rights violations including torturing prisoners by chaining them to walls and sexually harassing inmates.
The glam TV star Sarah Khalifa, from Egypt, is best known for starring in a TV show about crime called Mission Impossible. The presenter and 11 others have been sentenced to death by hanging after being convicted of drugs charges in the country.
The 39-year-old denies the charges. According to Egypt’s state-owned al-Ahram newspaper, the group were part of a criminal gang that imported ingredients used to make drugs with intentions to sell them.
The court heard that authorities seized more than 1,653lbs of drugs and the ingredients needed to make them. Khalifa is now in legal limbo as her lawyers are desperately to appeal her guilty sentence.
The TV star is currently being held in Badr Prison Complex, around 40 miles northeast of Cairo. The prison which opened in 2021 has been accused of “egregious and collective violations of human rights” by numerous international human rights organisations.
Prisoners inside the complex have reportedly been subjected to sexual harassment, electric shocks, and a range of torture techniques, including being chained to the walls for days without food or water.
Less than a year after opening, at least four deaths were reported at the prison facility. And in at least three of the cases, authorities failed to respond to calls for medical assistance, human rights organisations have alleged.
In October 2022 Amnesty International stated: “Prisoners are held in horrific and punitive conditions comparable to or even worse than those consistently documented at Egypt’s notorious Tora Prison Complex.”
The organisation added: “Detainees shiver in cold cells with fluorescent lights switched on round the clock; CCTV cameras are trained on them at all hours; and access to basic necessities such as sufficient food, clothing and books is banned.
“’Such hearings violate fair trial rights including the rights to adequate defence and to meaningfully challenge the legality of their detention.”
Amnesty International stated: “They take place under coercive circumstances in the presence of prison guards and detainees are prevented from communicating with their lawyers, given the ban on lawyer visits to prison.
“Further, they expose detainees to risks of reprisals from guards for complaining about torture or other ill-treatment and impede the ability of judges to spot visible bruises or other injuries.”
In 2023, 38 global human rights organisations came together to condemn the prison facility and its practices. The charities have also claimed inmates have allegedly received electric shocks in response to asking for better conditions inside the prison.
Coupled with this in October 2022, Omar Mohamed Ali, an inmate, was allegedly victim to sexual abuse by prison staff after he was transferred to the facility, the charities claim.
In August 2024, 10 human rights charities wrote an open letter blasting the “recent and rapid deterioration of conditions” inside the hellish complex.
The letter read: “We are alarmed by recent reports of suicide attempts and a mass hunger strike in response to widespread power cuts in Badr 1 prison, which have subjected prisoners to dangerous and life-threatening conditions.
“We are also alarmed by the reports of an ongoing hunger strike in Badr 3 prison due to collective violations of detainees’ rights.”
The letter also claimed authorities allegedly cut off electricity at the prison facility for eight days during an extreme heatwave. The lack of power is alleged to have left the detainee in the prison in “miserable, inhumane conditions threatening their health and wellbeing,” the letter stated.