An Italian journalist left to languish in an Iranian prison for three weeks has returned home amid speculation she was released in exchange for an Iranian engineer accused of terrorism.
Cecilia Sala, 29, embraced her boyfriend Daniele Raineri after landing at Rome’s Ciampino airport, before greeting Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni.
In announcing that the journalist was flying home, Ms Meloni’s office said the premier had personally informed Sala’s parents and credited the release to the government’s ‘intensive work on diplomatic and intelligence channels’.
According to The Times, she told Sala at the airport: ‘Now you just need to stay serene, don’t say anything — I am here to thank you and tell you that you were strong.’
The journalist was detained on December 19 and thrown into solitary confinement for ‘violating’ the Islamic Republic’s harsh laws.’
However, analysts noted the timing of the arrest coincided with the United States and Italy arresting Mohammad Abedini, a Swiss-Iranian wanted over export violations linked to a deadly attack on American servicemen.
The US Justice Department accused Mr Abedini and another Iranian of supplying the drone technology to Iran that was used in a January 2024 attack on a US outpost in Jordan that killed three American troops. He denied the charges.
Mr Abedini remains in detention in Italy but has asked a Milan court to grant him house arrest pending an extradition hearing.
Free at last: Cecilia Sala, 29, greeted Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni as she landed at Rome’s Ciampino airport on Wednesday
Sala is embraced by her parents after landing, having spent three weeks in a prison in Iran
The journalist was detained on December 19 and thrown into solitary confinement for ‘violating’ the Islamic Republic’s harsh laws’
Sala’s release was met with cheers in Italy, where her plight had dominated headlines.
Lawmakers from across the political spectrum praised the outcome, with the opposition Democratic leader Elly Schlein thanking the government specifically.
Her release came after Ms Meloni made a surprise trip to Florida last weekend to meet Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate, where it is believed the pair discussed the case.
Ms Meloni in a statement on X thanked ‘all those who helped make Cecilia’s return possible, allowing her to re-embrace her family and colleagues’.
Members of Ms Meloni’s cabinet took personal interest in the case given the geopolitical implications. Foreign minister Antonio Tanaji hailed the diplomatic teamwork involved to secure Ms Sala’s release.
Ahmad Rafat, an Italian-Iranian journalist based in Britain, said: ‘I have been told by an Italian political source Trump agreed not to protest — once he is in office — if Italy releases Abedini in return for Iran freeing Sala.’
Farian Sabahi, an Iranian-Italian writer, told news agency Adnkronos that the move may also have been influenced by the more moderate-leaning and recently-elected President Pezeshkian.
‘The government of the reformist Pezeshkian, whose objective is to draw closer to the West, will have surely contributed to the release of Cecilia Sala,’ she said.
Sala was released amid speculation her freedom was in exchange for Iranian engineer Mohammad Abedini, who is accused of terrorism
Sala’s release was met with cheers in Italy, where her plight had dominated headlines
Sala’s boyfriend Daniele Raineri runs towards the freed journalist as her flight landed
Advocacy group Reporters Without Borders, which had flagged Ms Sala’s detention as an attack on press freedom, also celebrated her release.
‘Now the 25 journalists still held in Iranian prisons must also be released,’ the group said in a social media post.
Since the 1979 US Embassy crisis, which saw dozens of hostages released after 444 days in captivity, Iran has used prisoners with Western ties as bargaining chips in negotiations.
In September 2023, five Americans detained for years in Iran were freed in exchange for five Iranians in US custody and for 6 billion dollars in frozen Iranian assets to be released by South Korea.
Western journalists have been held in the past. Roxana Saberi, an American journalist, was detained by Iran in 2009 for around 100 days before being released.
Also detained by Iran was Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, who was held for more than 540 days before being released in 2016 in a prisoner swap between Iran and the US.
Both cases involved Iran making false espionage accusations in closed-door hearings.
The saga began after Sala travelled to Iran on December 13 on a journalist’s visa.
Sala had travelled to Iran on December 13 on a journalist’s visa. She was arrested six days later for ‘violating the law of the Islamic Republic of Iran’, according to the country’s culture ministry
The journalist, who writes for the Italian daily Il Foglio and is the host of a news podcast produced by Chora media, had recently released a podcast episode about an Iranian woman who had rejected her conservative values
During a phone call with her family, Sala said she had been sleeping on the floor in a cell with the lights permanently on, Italian media reported
She was arrested six days later for ‘violating the law of the Islamic Republic of Iran’, according to the country’s culture ministry.
Sala had been due to return home to Italy the following day.
Her last post on X before her arrest was a link to her latest podcast episode, which she captioned: ‘A conversation about patriarchy in Tehran’.
During a phone call with her family, Sala said she had been sleeping on the floor in a cell with the lights permanently on, Italian media reported.
The foreign ministry’s secretary general Riccardo Guariglia then met with ambassador Mohammad Reza Sabouri to discuss Sala in what was described as a ‘friendly meeting’.
Guariglia told Iran’s envoy that Italian embassy staff in Tehran should be allowed to visit the journalist ‘and provide her with the comfort items that have been denied to date’, the foreign ministry said.
They also discussed Iranian citizen Mohammad Abedini, who is ‘detained in the prison of Milan on false charges’, the statement added.
Abedini, 38, was arrested in Italy last month at the request of American authorities, who have accused him of supplying sophisticated drone navigation technology to Iran’s military in violation of US sanctions laws.
Protesters demanded the immediate release of Sala in Turin, Italy, on 29 December 2024
Elisabetta Vernoni, mother of Cecilia Sala, had a meeting with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome last week to discuss her daughter’s plight
The components were later used in a January drone strike at a Jordanian military base near the Syrian border that killed three American service members, US justice authorities have alleged.
A second man, naturalized American-Iranian Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi, 42, was also arrested in the United States and charged with conspiring with Abedini.
Iran has denied the accusations.
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