Italy summons Iran envoy, demands release of jailed journalist Cecilia Sala

Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Thursday summoned the Iranian ambassador over the detention of an Italian journalist in Tehran two weeks ago, demanding her release.

Cecilia Sala, 29, was arrested on December 19, days after the United States and Italy arrested two Iranian nationals over export violations linked to a deadly attack on American servicemen.

The journalist, who writes for the Italian daily Il Foglio and is the host of a news podcast, has been kept in isolation since then.

The foreign ministry’s secretary general, Riccardo Guariglia discussed her case with Iran’s ambassador, Mohammad Reza Sabouri, said a foreign ministry statement.

Italy “requested the immediate release” of Sala, “who arrived in Iran with a regular journalist visa”, it added.

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“The government, as it has from the first day of Cecilia Sala’s arrest, is working tirelessly to bring her home, and we demand that all her rights be respected,” Tajani wrote.

“We will not leave Cecilia and her parents’ side until her release.”

Sala travelled to Iran on December 13 on a journalist’s visa. She was arrested six days later for “violating the law of the Islamic Republic of Iran”, said the country’s culture ministry, which oversees and accredits foreign journalists.

In a phone call with her family on Wednesday, she told her family she had been sleeping on the floor in a cell with the lights permanently on, Italian media reported.

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Rome’s ambassador to Tehran, Paola Amadei, has visited Sala but a care package she gave officials for the Italian reporter has not been passed on to her, Italian media said.

Guariglia told Iran’s envoy that Italian embassy staff in Tehran should be allowed to visit her “and provide her with the comfort items that have been denied to date”, the foreign ministry said.

Iranian behind bars in Italy

In a statement Thursday, Iran’s embassy in Rome said Guariglia and Sabouri had discussed Sala in what was described as a “friendly meeting”. They also discussed Iranian citizen Mohammad Abedini, who is “detained in the prison of Milan on false charges”, the statement added.

Abedini, 38, was arrested in Italy last month at the request of American authorities, who have accused him of supplying sophisticated drone navigation technology to Iran’s military in violation of US sanctions laws.

The components were later used in a January drone strike at a Jordanian military base near the Syrian border that killed three American service members, US justice authorities have alleged.

A second man, naturalized American-Iranian Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi, 42, was also arrested in the United States and charged with conspiring with Abedini.

Iran has denied the accusations.

The embassy statement said Sala had been provided with “all the necessary requirements”.

“It is expected from the Italian government, that reciprocally, in addition to accelerating the release of the detained Iranian citizen, the necessary welfare facilities are provided to Mr. Abedini,” it said.

Tajani has denounced Iran’s arrest of Sala as “unacceptable” but says efforts to free her from Tehran’s Evin prison are complicated.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called a meeting Thursday with Tajani, Justice Minister Carlo Nordio, and the heads of Italy’s intelligence services over the Sala affair.

Sala last posted on X on December 17 with a link to a podcast entitled “A Conversation on Patriarchy in Tehran”. She had previously reported from Ukraine on its war with Russia, an ally of Iran.