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Iran authorities arrest Italy journalist on unknown charges, detaining her at notorious prison

December 29, 2024 at 9:27 am

Journalist Cecilia Sala in the presentation of her podcast In Viaggio con Stories at the Milan Conservatory during the Chora Festival Voume 1. Milan (Italy), February 16th, 2024 [Elena Di Vincenzo/Archivio Elena Di Vincenzo/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images]

Iranian authorities have arrested an Italian journalist this month under unknown charges, in what is the latest incident of a Western visitor being detained by Iran’s security services in recent years.

According to Italy’s foreign ministry, 29-year-old Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was detained was detained by Iranian authorities on 19 December as she was reporting in the capital Tehran. Having reportedly entered the country on a regular journalist visa, she had been publishing reports on the situation in Iran following the recent collapse of the late Assad regime in Syria this month.

“Following orders from foreign minister Antonio Tajani, the embassy and consulate in Tehran are monitoring the case with utmost attention from the outset”, the ministry announced in a statement this week. “Working in coordination with the council presidency, we are engaged with Iranian authorities to clarify Sala’s legal situation and verify the conditions of her detention”.

Although her arrest took place over a week ago, it was only made public by the Italian government on Friday, with Iran not yet having publicly acknowledged it. Sala is reportedly being held in Tehran’s Evin prison, which is notorious for holding detainees on security charges and has been criticised by rights groups over the year. It has also allegedly facilitated “serious human rights abuses”, according to a US government blacklist.

Sala is reported by the Italian foreign ministry to have been held in solitary confinement for a week, but foreign minister Tajani assured she was “in good health condition” and was visited on Friday by Italian ambassador to Iran, Paola Amadei. She has also reportedly been allowed to make two phone calls to her relatives.

Sala – who was a regular guest on Italian talk shows and reported from many other regions including Afghanistan, Venezuela, and Ukraine – primarily works as a war correspondent and reporter for the newspaper Il Foglio and the podcast company Chora Media, both of which have condemned her arrest and called for her urgent release.

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