Journalist Cecilia Sala en route to Italy after release from Tehran prison

NEWS WIRES

8 January 2025 at 6:13 am·1-min read

Journalist Cecilia Sala is welcomed by the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as she arrives at the Ciampino airport in Rome, after being freed by Iranian authorities, on January 8, 2025

A plane carrying journalist Cecilia Sala has left Tehran and will soon arrive back in Italy, Italian authorities announced on Wednesday. Sala had been held in the Iranian capital's notorious Evin prison since she was arrested on December 19.

An Italian journalist arrested in Iran and jailed for three weeks has been freed and is returning to Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's office said on Wednesday.

"The plane taking journalist Cecilia Sala home took off from Tehran a few minutes ago" following "intense work through diplomatic and intelligence channels", Meloni's office said in a statement.

"Our compatriot has been released by the Iranian authorities and is on her way back to Italy. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expresses her gratitude to all those who helped make Cecilia's return possible, allowing her to re-embrace her family and colleagues," her office said.

Meloni personally informed Sala's parents of her release by telephone, it added.

Sala, 29, was arrested on December 19, soon after the United States and Italy arrested two Iranian nationals over export violations linked to a deadly attack on American servicemen.

The journalist, who writes for the Italian daily Il Foglio and is the host of a news podcast produced by Chora Media, was kept in isolation in Tehran's Evin prison.

Sala told her family she was forced to sleep on the floor in a cell with the lights permanently on.

(AFP)

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