Italy has summoned Iran’s ambassador to demand the immediate release of an Italian journalist detained in Tehran.
Six days after arriving in Tehran on a journalist’s visa, Cecilia Sala, a correspondent for the daily newspaper Il Foglio, was arrested on December 19.
Ms Sala was arrested on grounds of violating Islamic Republic of Iran rules, according to the state media.
The Italian foreign ministry said it summoned Iran’s ambassador, Mohammad Reza Sabouri, to demand her release and ensure “dignified detention conditions in full respect of human rights,” such as consular access and visits.
Italy’s opposition Democratic Party also demanded her immediate release.
Ms Sala’s fate has become intertwined with that of an Iranian man detained in Italy on December 16. Mohammad Abedini-Najafabad was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport on a US warrant alleging he was involved in the January 28, 2024, drone attack in Jordan that killed three American troops.
U.S federal prosecutors have charged Abedini and a co-defendant with export control violations after FBI specialists analysed the drone navigation system used in the Jordan attack and traced it to them.
The U.S Justice Department declined to comment on whether there was a link between the Sala case and its drone investigation.
According to Italian media, Iran is using Ms Sala as a bargaining chip to secure Abedini’s release. When asked about the scenario during a call-in to Rete4 on Sunday, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani did not contradict it.
Since the 1979 US Embassy crisis in Iran, during which scores of US hostages were held captive in Tehran for 444 days, Iran has repeatedly utilized inmates with Western ties as bargaining chips in discussions.
