Press freedom groups and media organizations are calling for Iran to release an Italian journalist who was arrested last month.
Cecilia Sala, who works for the daily Italian newspaper Il Foglio, was arrested on Dec. 19 and is being held in Iran’s notorious Evin prison. The 29-year-old was reporting in Iran on a journalist visa and was due to return to Italy on Dec. 20.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, said Sala’s jailing underscores Tehran’s harsh suppression of independent journalism in the country.
“Sala’s arrest is a powerful reminder of the daily threats faced by those reporting in and about Iran, and she and all those wrongfully detained by Iran should be released immediately,” CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg said Tuesday in a statement.
Iran ranks seventh among the world’s top jailers of journalists. As of Dec. 1, 2024, 16 journalists were jailed in the country, according to CPJ data.
Iran confirmed Sala’s detention on Monday when the state news outlet IRNA reported that she was being held after “violating the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Sala, who also works for the podcast company Chora Media, is being held in solitary confinement, according to media reports.
The office of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Meloni was “following the complex affair” closely and pursuing “all possible avenues of dialogue” to release Sala. Italy’s foreign minister said Sala was in good health and that negotiations were under way to bring her home.
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, said Sala appeared to have been arbitrarily detained.
“We are also concerned about her conditions of detention as she is held in solitary confinement in Evin prison — infamous for being the cruel place where free voices critical of the regime are detained,” RSF Director General Thibaut Bruttin said Tuesday in a statement.
The National Press Club in Washington condemned Sala’s solitary confinement.
“Sala’s imprisonment is a chilling reminder of the risks journalists face in pursuit of the truth,” President Emily Wilkins said in a statement last week. “Her detention is an affront to press freedom and a violation of international norms.”
Sala’s arrest came just a few days after Italy arrested Swiss Iranian businessman Mohammad Abedini Najafabadi, known as Abedini, in Milan at the request of the United States.
The businessman is accused of breaking U.S. sanctions laws and providing support to a foreign terrorist organization, which ultimately led to the deaths of three U.S. service members in a drone attack in Jordan, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica that they believe Sala’s arrest is likely a response to Najafabadi’s arrest.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately reply to VOA’s email requesting comment.
