Italy’s Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, has summoned the Iranian ambassador to Rome over the detention of an Italian journalist held in isolation since her arrest in Tehran two weeks ago.
In a post on his official X handle on Thursday, Tajani said the government, as it has from the first day of Cecilia Sala’s arrest, is working tirelessly to bring her home, demanding that all her rights be respected.
“We will not leave Cecilia and her parents’ side until her release,” Tajani said.
Media Talk Africa recalls that the 29-year-old journalist travelled to Iran on December 13 on a journalist’s visa and was arrested on December 19 for allegedly violating the law of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
According to Italian media reports, Sala told her family in a phone call Wednesday, that she is being kept in isolation, sleeping on the floor in a cell with the lights permanently on.
Italian media reported that Rome’s ambassador to Tehran, Paola Amadei, has visited Sala but a care package she gave officials for the Italian reporter including an eye mask to help her sleep and sanitary products has not been handed over.
Meanwhile, Tajani has denounced her arrest as unacceptable, saying that efforts to free her from Tehran’s Evin prison are complicated.
Sala’s arrest occurred days after the United States and Italy arrested two Iranian nationals over export violations linked to a deadly attack on American servicemen.
Sala last posted on X on December 17 with a link to a podcast entitled “A Conversation on Patriarchy in Tehran”.
She had previously reported from Ukraine on its war with Russia, an ally of Iran.
