“I thank everyone. I thank the government, and everyone who got me out.” These are the words of Cecilia Sala addressed to reporters from the car returning to her home in Rome on Wednesday evening. No other comments from the Chora Media collaborator to colleagues outside her home, who then entered directly into the building’s internal car park with the car and then went up to the apartment.
The journalist freed in Tehran left Rome Ciampino airport in the evening where she landed at 4.15pm on a plane belonging to the Italian Presidency of the Council. In a room at the airport, according to what has been learned, the collaborator imprisoned for 21 days in Iran was first of all heard by the Special Operational Group (Ros), the investigative department of the Carabinieri on mandate from the judiciary.
The satisfaction of the Foreign Minister
“She is a young girl and also a brilliant journalist, who has a good career ahead of her, she should be encouraged, but sometimes prudence is also needed,” said the Italian Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani. “But she was satisfied with having hugged her parents again, having seen her colleagues, she was welcomed by the Prime Minister, I was there to greet her together with her family. I think it was a nice welcome without much fuss, but we completed an underground job that lasted throughout the Christmas holidays”, he underlined.
“We have never feared the fate of Cecilia Sala – continued the head of the Farnesina interviewed in the evening by Italian radio and television – but we feared that the negotiations could take a long time. But with teamwork – diplomacy, government, intelligence – we managed to speed up the process and in the end after 2-3 days it became clear that we had almost reached the conclusion of the matter. Tonight the negotiation effectively ended, the prefect Giovanni Caravelli, director of the AISE (External Information and Security Agency), went to pick her up in Tehran”.
The reaction of the White House
“The case of Cecilia Sala was a decision of the Italian government and it is Rome that must answer specific questions.” This was the comment of the American national security advisor, John Kirby, in a briefing with a small group of journalists. “It was an Italian decision, from start to finish,” Kirby reiterated, underlining that “unfortunately the Iranian regime continues to unjustly detain people from many other countries, often to use them as political leverage, and every one of them should be released now.” . “The vital work done by journalists, including that of Cecilia Sala, to inform the public often in incredibly dangerous situations like this, should be protected by any government.”
What changes now for Mohammad Abedini Najafabad
-With the release of Cecilia Sala, a possible solution is also increasingly concrete for the case of Mohammad Abedini Najafabadi, the Iranian stopped at Malpensa on December 16th at the request of the United States, and now detained in Opera. A solution that could also involve release from prison, which however should be decided at a political level.
From the Palace of Justice in Milan, after the news of the reporter’s release, they explained that there is no “news at the moment” on the case of the 38-year-old engineer, adding: “Only great satisfaction” for the release. Abedini’s lawyer, Alfredo De Francesco, also stated that he was “very happy for Cecilia’s return home”, underlining however that he had to concentrate “on the affair of my client and work as best as possible” in view of the hearing on 15 January in which will discuss the request, made at the end of the year, for house arrest without an electronic bracelet and in an apartment owned by the Iranian consulate in Milan. In judicial circles, Carlo Nordio’s move is now awaited: in fact, only the Minister of Justice, according to Italian law, can decide on the possible release from prison and resolve the complicated scenario that has been created.
As for the timing, since it is not possible to make any predictions, there are those who say that the decision could arrive in a few days and those who, more prudently, maintain that a solution could materialize after the hearing set for a week. Finally, the further hypothesis concerns the papers that the United States will send from Boston in support of the accusations made against Abedini in view of the extradition request: only after having seen and analyzed the US documentation, the decision could be made.
However, with a possible request from the Minister of Justice, the Court must immediately order the release of the 38-year-old. Request, provided for by the criminal procedure code, which would mean that the ministry no longer wants to follow up on the extradition request made by the United States. And therefore, Abedini would be released from the Opera prison in Milan and could return to Iran and the extradition proceedings in Italy would be extinguished.
Even in Tehran, qualified sources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic hope that the engineer will “return home soon”. With the hope, however, that Italy does not get involved in the old war between the United States and Iran”.
Swiss
