Iran Detains Italian Journalist, Cecilia Sala, in Tehran
Italian journalist Cecilia Sala has been detained in Iran, Italy’s foreign ministry confirmed in a statement on Friday, as per Bloomberg.
Sala, who was reportedly in the country on assignment, is being held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, according to Il Foglio, one of her employers.
Il Foglio stated that Sala had the required visa to report on Iran, “a country where information is stifled through repression, threats, intimidation, violence, detention — often at the expense of reporters themselves.” The publication emphasized that she was there to tell the story of a country she knows and loves.
Italy’s foreign ministry said that Sala was detained on December 19 by Tehran police and that Italian authorities were following the case with “maximum attention.” The Italian ambassador in Tehran has visited Sala, and she has been allowed two phone calls to her relatives, the ministry confirmed.
Sala’s recent posts on social media platforms, including Instagram and X, indicate that she arrived in Tehran around December 13.
This is not the first instance of Iran detaining a foreign journalist or an Italian national. In October 2022, Alessia Piperno was arrested and held in the same Tehran prison. She was released after some 40 days amid widespread protests in Iran, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody.
