Italian journalist Cecilia Sala
Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, arrested and imprisoned last month in Iran, has been released, the Italian government announced in a press release on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old journalist boarded a plane to return to Italy, the office of Council President Giorgia Meloni said.
Cecilia Sala, in possession of a valid journalist’s visa, was arrested in Tehran on December 19 and held in solitary confinement in Evin prison, in the Iranian capital.
His arrest came three days after that of an Iranian national, Mohammad Abedini, at Milan-Malpensa airport at the request of American authorities.
Washington accuses this businessman of having supplied parts for drones used in an attack which cost the lives of three Americans last year in Jordan.
In its statement, the Italian government, without mentioning the case of Mohammad Abedini, said that the release of Cecilia Sala was the result of intense efforts carried out through diplomatic and intelligence channels.
Dozens of foreign or dual nationals have been arrested in Iran in recent years. The Islamic Republic is accused by NGOs of using these arrests as a bargaining chip to obtain concessions from other countries, which Tehran denies.
On Tuesday, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, estimated that the situation of the “French hostages in Iran”, three in number, “had deteriorated” since the election of Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian in the summer last.
(Written by Alvise Armellini, Jean-Stéphane Brosse for the French version, edited by Kate Entringer)
