Iran releases Italian journalist Cecilia Sala from jail. news
Tehran has denied that Salah’s December 19 detention was linked to the arrest of an Iranian businessman in Italy on a US warrant.
Iran has released journalist Cecilia Sala after three weeks in prison, the office of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says.
Meloni’s office issued a statement on Wednesday announcing that Sala’s release had been secured, more than three weeks after he was arrested on December 19. Tehran has denied speculation that his arrest was linked to the detention of an Iranian businessman in Rome, whom the United States accused of involvement. Attack on his army.
The announcement was welcomed in Italy, where his plight made headlines. Lawmakers praised the successful negotiations to bring him home, reflecting the power of political leverage for Maloney.
“I want to express my gratitude to everyone who contributed to making Cecilia’s return possible, giving her the opportunity to embrace her family and coworkers again,” Meloni posted on X.
He said he had personally informed Sala’s parents about his release.
Held in solitary confinement in the Iranian capital’s notorious Evin prison, Sala, a reporter for the newspaper Il Foglio, was working on a regular journalism visa.
His detention came three days after Iranian businessman Mohammad Abedini was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport on a US warrant.
The US Justice Department has accused Abedini and another Iranian of supplying drone technology to Iran that was used in a January 2024 attack on a US post in Jordan that killed three US soldiers.
Italian commentators have speculated that Iran was retaining Sala as a bargaining chip. Iran has often been accused of using prisoners with Western ties for such purposes.
In September 2023, five Americans imprisoned for years in Iran were freed in exchange for five Iranians and $6 billion of frozen Iranian assets released by South Korea.
Western journalists have been arrested before also. Roxana Saberi, an American journalist, was detained by Iran for nearly 100 days in 2009 before being released.
However, Tehran has flatly denied any connection between the two cases. Abedini is in custody in Italy.
Meloni’s statement said Sala had been freed “due to intensive work across diplomatic and intelligence channels”. However, it made no mention of the Abedini case.
The Italian Prime Minister met US President-elect Donald Trump over the weekend and reportedly discussed the case.
No details of the negotiations were released, but unverified media reports claimed that Trump had agreed to a deal to secure Sala’s release, as long as it occurred before his inauguration on January 20. .
