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An Italian journalist arrested in Iran last month and held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison returned home on Wednesday after being freed following weeks of diplomatic wrangling and pressure on Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Cecilia Sala, 29, was arrested on December 19, days after Italian authorities detained an Iranian man wanted in the US for allegedly providing Iran with sensitive technology for drones that were used to kill three American soldiers in Jordan.
The journalist’s return to Italy comes just days after Meloni made an emergency visit to Mar-a-Lago in Florida to have dinner with US president-elect Donald Trump, with whom she is believed to have discussed the sensitive case.
Iranian authorities gave no official confirmation or explanation for freeing Sala. Earlier, Iranian officials said she had been detained for “violating the laws of the Islamic republic” without giving any details, though they denied any “retaliatory” intentions. Sala had been in Tehran on a valid journalist visa.
In a social media post, Meloni — who was under intense domestic pressure to secure Sala’s freedom — called her release the result of “intense work on diplomatic and intelligence channels”.
Italy’s intelligence chief Giovanni Caravelli travelled to Tehran in an Italian Air Force plane to collect the journalist, whose arrest had created a national public outcry in Italy.
“I think our government has done an extraordinary job,” Sala’s father, Renato Sala, told Italy’s state news agency, Ansa, describing himself as overcome with emotion.
The journalist’s return will further boost the domestic political prestige of the already popular Meloni, whose diplomatic efforts on Sala’s behalf were widely hailed, including from normally hostile opposition parties.
However, strategic analysts have questioned what persuaded Tehran — with which Rome typically maintains cordial relations — to free Sala, who complained of being forced to sleep on the floor with a light on over her head 24 hours a day during her detention.
“There has to be a deal — some kind of deal,” said one security expert, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. “The obvious question is, what is the quid pro quo?”
Rome and Tehran have engaged in bitter diplomatic exchanges in recent weeks. Italy complained about the treatment of Sala while Iranian authorities demanded that Italy release Iranian citizen Mohammad Abedini, an engineer arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport last month just days before Sala was taken into custody.
Abedini is being sought by US authorities, who want to try him on multiple criminal charges linked to his alleged export of “sophisticated electronic components from the US to Iran” in violation of sanctions.
Abedini is being held in jail in Milan but is due to appear next week in an Italian court, where his lawyer will plead for him to be taken out of jail and placed under house arrest.
Italian prosecutors have opposed Abedini’s potential release into house arrest, citing the likely flight risk. The prime minister’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Abedini’s status.
The US justice department has also written to Italy to oppose Abedini’s potential release from jail, noting that various individuals sought by the US had subsequently disappeared after being placed under house arrest in Italy.
In one particularly high-profile case last year, Artem Uss, a prominent Russian politician’s son wanted in the US to stand trial for sanctions violations, managed to escape house arrest and make his way back to his homeland.
However, Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani — a friend of Sala’s father — denied that Abedini’s case had any link to Sala’s arrest. “The Iranians themselves have separated the two cases,” he said. “Let’s enjoy Cecilia Sala’s return to Italy.”
Justice minister Carlo Nordio said Abedini’s case was being “evaluated according to legal parameters”.
Additional reporting by Giuliana Ricozzi in Rome and Bita Ghaffari in Tehran
