Italian journalist Cecilia Sala lands in Rome after release from Iranian prison
After more than three weeks of detention, Cecilia Sala has been released from Tehran's Evin Prison and was met at the airport in Rome by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Cecilia Sala, an Italian journalist who had been detained at Tehran's notorious Evin Prison since her arrest on Dec. 19, was released Wednesday and has since landed a Rome's Ciampino airport, where she was greeted by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
In a statement to X earlier on Wednesday, Meloni said that Sala was en route to Italy “thanks to intense work on diplomatic and intelligence channels.”
Sala is a journalist for the Italian daily Il Foglio as well as a podcast creator for Italy’s Chora Media. She arrived in Iran on Dec. 13 and recorded several podcast episodes while there, some of which covered Iran’s hijab laws and issues pertaining to women’s rights. Sala was arrested six days later for allegedly violating the laws of the Islamic Republic, according to Iran’s state news agency IRNA, though no details were provided by Iranian authorities.
Sala’s release comes just a few days after Meloni met with US President-elect Donald Trump at the incoming president's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida last weekend. A report from the Italian newspaper Il Giornale on Monday said that Trump had agreed with Meloni in to delay US efforts to extradite Iranian-Swiss citizen Mohammad Abedini Najafabi, who was detained in Milan on a US warrant just three days before Sala was arrested, in order to create space for diplomacy. The United States accuses Abedini of conspiring to violate US sanctions and providing material support to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Bentornata a casa, @ceciliasala. (Foto di Daniele Raineri/Il Post) pic.twitter.com/uUcVqDFiH1
— Marco Fattorini (@MarcoFattorini) January 8, 2025
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson denied that the two cases were related.
Last Thursday, Italy’s Foreign Ministry summoned Iran's ambassador, Mohammad Reza Sabouri, to demand Sala’s "immediate release." The next day, Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned Italian Ambassador Paola Amadei to protest the “illegal” detention of Abedini, according to Iran’s state news agency IRNA.
Abedini remains detained in Milan’s Opera prison, but his lawyer has filed a motion to allow him to be moved to house arrest in an apartment owned by the Iranian consulate. The appeals court is expected to issue a ruling on Jan. 15. Meanwhile, judges are also considering the US request to extradite Abedini.
