File Photo: A view of the High Court of Justice in Cairo, Egypt REUTERS
The court also handed prison sentences ranging from five to 10 years on Thursday to six other accomplices in the case, including a Syrian national.
A life sentence carries 25 years in jail, per the Egyptian penal code.
The rulings are not final and can be appealed.
The Egyptian public reacted in shock in August 2018 over the case known in media as the "Rehab student case", after police said they recovered the body of 23-year-old university student, Bassam Osama, who had been buried in a Rehab home.
Osama was strangled to death by the 55-year-old man, Ashraf Ragab, who then buried him under the home’s kitchen.
Ragab's daughter, Habiba, who was 20 years old when the crime was committed, had lured her fiancé to the apartment where he was killed, according to police investigations.
The father, who owned a contracting business, told police that he killed Osama because the young man had discovered Ragab was fleeing a life sentence verdict in a drug-trafficking case.
Ragab said he was told by his daughter that Osama was going to report to the authorities that he had forged a death certificate and lived incognito for years.
Police say the six other defendants in the case aided and abetted in the murder.
Police were first informed about the matter after the victim's brother reported his disappearance.
The brother said in comments to the media at the time that Osama had told him he was going to meet Habiba, but she called him hours later to say that Osama never showed up.
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