After more than 20 days of detention in Iran, Cecilia Sala, a 29-year-old Italian journalist, has been released thanks to intense diplomatic efforts by the Government of Giorgia Meloni. Sala, a contributor to the newspaper Il Foglio, was arrested on December 19 for alleged violations of Islamic law. He never faced formal charges, but during his confinement he remained in the harsh Evin prison under a extreme isolation regime.
In a statement from the Chigi Palace, the seat of the Government, it is reported that a flight took off from Tehran this morning bringing the journalist back to Rome. “Thanks to intense work through diplomatic and intelligence channels, our compatriot has been released by the Iranian authorities and returns to Italy,” the Government note reads. The prime minister expressed her “gratitude to all those who have contributed to making Cecilia’s return possible, allowing her to reunite with her family and colleagues.” Giorgia Meloni personally informed the journalist’s parents through a phone call.
The only person who could find Cecilia Sala in prison was Paola Amadeithe Italian ambassador to Iran. Cecilia was able to call home three times, for a few minutes, once the day after the arrest and another on December 26. Then again on January 1st. In those brief phone calls with her family, Cecilia made it known that in the tiny cell where she was detained I didn’t have a mattress and I slept on the floor.lying on one of the two blankets that she had at her disposal. He used the other to protect himself from the cold in the pressure of Evin, in Tehran. With considerable delay, the basic necessities that the Italian embassy had taken to the Iranian prison authorities were delivered to him.
Sala was imprisoned in retaliation for the arrest, three days earlier, of the Swiss-Iranian engineer Mohammad Abedini Najafabadi, at Milan’s Malpensa airport, by order of the United States. Washington accuses him of being part of a criminal association and of having supplied technological components mounted on the drones used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a terrorist organization, according to the United States, which wanted his extradition. By surprise, Giorgia Meloni traveled to the private residence of the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, at Mar-a-Lago, in Florida, with a key topic on the agenda of his conversation with Trump: The case of the journalist Cecilia Sala. The Italian media highlighted that Meloni firmly pressured Trump in favor of the journalist, with the aim of avoiding the United States extradition request.
It’s on the plane that brings Cecilia Sala home from Tehran.
Thanks to an intense work sui diplomatic and intelligence channels, our connazionale is stata rilasciata delle autorità Iraniane and is reentrando in Italia. I personally inform you and the genitors of the giornalista…— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) January 8, 2025
Cecilia Sala’s father, Renato, has expressed his joy like this: «I have only cried three times in my life. I think that the Government of our country has done an exceptional job. It was an extraordinary job of coordination. I trusted Cecilia’s strength. In this period – he added – he had the impression of a chess game, but there were not only two players. At a certain point the board was filled and this created strong fears in a father like me, who unfortunately ignores the movements.
The release of Cecilia Sala marks the end of a difficult personal experience and undoubtedly represents a success for the Meloni Government, in resolving a complicated diplomatic challenge with some speed.
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