A plane carrying Cecilia Sala, 29, landed at Rome’s Ciampino airport, where Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was there to welcome her.
Cecilia Sala East free and is back to schoolItaly this Wednesday. The plane carrying her landed at Rome Ciampino airport around 4:30 p.m.
Iranian media acknowledged the journalist’s release, citing only foreign reports. Iranian authorities made no immediate comment.
Cecilia Sala, 29, daily journalist Il Fogliowas arrested in Tehran on December 19, three days after arriving on a journalist’s visa. She was accused of having “violated the laws of the Islamic Republic”declared the official IRNA news agency.
This release comes after a surprise trip by Giorgia Meloni to Florida last weekend to meet the President-elect of the United States, Donald Trumpat his Mar-a-Lago property. Meloni.
Italian observers had speculated that Iran was holding Cecilia Sala as a bargaining chip to secure the release of Mohammad Abedini, who had been arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport three days earlier, on December 16, on the basis of an American arrest warrant.
The U.S. Justice Department accuses him and another Iranian of providing Iran with drone technology that was used in the January 2024 attack on a U.S. outpost in Jordan, during which three American soldiers were killed.
He is still detained in Italy.
Their plight turned into a diplomatic imbroglio, with each country’s foreign ministries summoning the other’s ambassador to demand the prisoners’ release and decent conditions. This saga has been particularly complicated for Italy, which is a historic ally of Washington, but traditionally maintains good relations with Tehran.
Reactions from Italy
The entire Italian political spectrum expressed relief and satisfaction, starting with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajaniwhich confirmed the release of Ms. Sala on X. “Welcome home”commented the Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto.
Congratulations were also extended by opposition leaders, Giuseppe Conte And Carlo Calenda has Matteo Renzi. “The news that we have been waiting for, that we hoped to receive as soon as possible. The release of Cecilia Sala is a relief and knowing that she will soon be in Italy fills us with joy. Thanks to the governmentto the diplomatic corps, to the services and to all those who worked tirelessly during these 20 days of apprehension and anxiety for this result. We look forward to seeing you, Cecilia”declared the secretary of the Democratic Party, Elly Schlein.
Western prisoners as bargaining chips
Since the 1979 US embassy crisis, in which dozens of hostages were freed after 444 days in captivity, Iran has used prisoners with ties to the West as bargaining chips in its negotiations with the rest of the world.
In September 2023, five Americans detained for years in Iran were released in exchange for five Iranians held by the United States and $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets to be released by South Korea.
Western journalists have also been detained in the past. Roxana Saberi, an American journalist, was detained by Iran in 2009 for around 100 days before being released.
The journalist from Washington Post Jason Rezaian was also detained by Iran for more than 540 days before being released in 2016 as part of a prisoner exchange between Iran and the United States.
