The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy, Antonio Tajanisummoned the Iranian ambassador in Rome on Thursday over the detention of an Italian journalist, who has been isolated since her arrest in Tehran two weeks ago.
“The government, as it has done since the first day of Cecilia Sala’s arrest, is working untiringly to bring her home, and We demand that all your rights be respected”, Tajani published in X.
“We will not be separated from Cecilia and her parents until she is released.”
The measure came after it was revealed that the journalist She is being held in extreme conditions in the infamous Evin prison in Tehran.
Sala, 29, traveled to Iran on December 13 on a journalist visa and was arrested on December 19 for “violating the law of the Islamic Republic of Iran”according to Iran’s Ministry of Culture, which supervises and accredits foreign journalists in Iran.
The journalist had made some reports from the country on the conditions of women, such as her intervention on December 17 in a podcast about the “patriarchy in Tehran.”
It is found isolatedsleeping on the floor in a cell with the lights on permanently, Sala told his family in a phone call Wednesday, according to Italian media reports.
He doesn’t even see the guards because they pass him food through a crack in the doorthey assured.
The ambassador of Rome in Tehran, Paola Amadeivisited Sala, but was not given a care package he gave officials for the Italian journalist, which included an eye mask to help her sleep and sanitary products, Italian media reported.
Tajani denounced his arrest as “unacceptable”but said efforts to free her from Tehran’s Evin prison are complicated.
The first Italian minister, Giorgia Meloni, has convened a meeting meeting this afternoon at the Government headquarters to address the situation in the Chamber in which Tajani will participate, along with the Minister of Justice, Carlo Nordio; the Undersecretary of the Presidency, Alfredo Mantovano, and the Intelligence services.
It is not ruled out that representatives of the opposition and other political parties will also attend the meeting, after their leaders have requested it, such as the general secretary of the progressive Democratic Party, Elly Schlein, or Matteo Renzi, of the centrist Italia Viva.
The Government has requested “full guarantees regarding the conditions of detention” of Sala and his “immediate release”, through a verbal note delivered by Ambassador Amadei to the Iranian authorities.
Sala’s arrest occurred days after the United States and Italy arrested two Iranian nationals for export violations linked to a deadly attack on U.S. military personnel.
Sala last posted on X on December 17 with a link to a podcast titled “A Conversation About Patriarchy in Tehran.” He had previously reported from Ukraine about his war with Russia, an ally of Iran.
(with information from AFP and EFE)
