Italy summoned Iran’s ambassador on Thursday, urging the immediate release of Italian reporter Cecilia Sala, detained in Tehran on December 19. Sala was in Iran working under a regular journalistic visa when she was apprehended and held in solitary confinement under difficult conditions.
The ministry expressed “serious concern” over her detention and put out a statement urging respect for her human rights as well as treatment that is less cold-blooded. According to reports in Italian media, Sala is being kept in a freezing cold cell with a neon light constantly on, and has had her glasses taken away from her to force her to strain to see. Further, Sala has been allowed little to no outside contact since her arrest.
The Secretary-General of Italy’s foreign ministry, Riccardo Guariglia, demanded the Iranian authorities give the embassy access to Sala, along with her being provided comfort items that, reportedly, have been denied.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency announced earlier this week that Sala had been arrested for “violating the laws of the Islamic Republic,” but officials didn’t specify further. Three days earlier, Iranian businessman Mohammad Abedini had been detained upon arrival at Milan’s Malpensa Airport. Abedini was wanted in the United States over accusations he furnished drone parts allegedly used in an attack in 2023, in Jordan that killed three American service members.
Iran has dismissed any connection to the attack and denounced Abedini’s arrest as a violation of international law. In the last few years, Tehran has arrested numerous foreigners and dual nationals, many of whom are accused of spying or security offenses, which rights groups claim is an effort to win political concessions.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is expected to discuss the case in a meeting later Thursday with the foreign and justice ministers.
