Iran releases Italian journalist Cecilia Sala from jail

Tehran denies Sala’s December 19 detainment was linked to an Iranian businessman’s arrest in Italy on a US warrant.

Iran has released journalist Cecilia Sala after three weeks in jail, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office says.

Meloni’s office issued a statement on Wednesday announcing Sala’s release had been secured more than three weeks after she was arrested on December 19. Tehran has denied speculation that her arrest was linked to Rome’s detainment of an Iranian businessman that the United States accuses of involvement in an attack on its military.

The announcement was met with cheers in Italy, where her plight had dominated headlines. Lawmakers hailed the successful negotiations to bring her home, illustrating the strength of the political gain for Meloni.

“I want to express gratitude to all those who contributed to making Cecilia’s return possible, allowing her to embrace her family and colleagues again,” Meloni posted on X.

She added that she had personally informed Sala’s parents of her release.

Held in solitary confinement in the Iranian capital’s notorious Evin prison, Sala, a reporter for the Il Foglio newspaper, had been working on a regular journalistic visa.

She was detained three days after Iranian businessman Mohammad Abedini was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport on a US warrant.

The US Justice Department has accused Abedini and another Iranian of supplying drone technology to Iran that was used in a January 2024 attack on a US outpost in Jordan, killing three American soldiers.

Italian commentators have speculated that Iran was holding Sala as a bargaining chip. Iran has often been accused of using prisoners with Western ties for such purposes.

In September 2023, five Americans imprisoned for years in Iran were freed in exchange for five Iranians and $6bn in frozen Iranian assets released by South Korea.

Western journalists have been held in the past as well. Roxana Saberi, an American journalist, was detained by Iran in 2009 for almost 100 days before being released.

However, Tehran has flatly denied any link between the two cases. Abedini remains in detention in Italy.

Meloni’s statement said Sala had been freed “thanks to intense work on diplomatic and intelligence channels”. However, it made no mention of the Abedini case.

The Italian prime minister met US President-elect Donald Trump at the weekend and reportedly discussed the case.

No details of the talks were released, but unverified media reports have claimed that Trump had nodded to a deal to secure Sala’s release, as long as it happened before his inauguration on January 20.