Italian journalist Cecilia Sala released from jail in Iran

After weeks of detention, Reuters reported Iranian police freed Cecilia Sala, an Italian journalist who was working for Il Foglio, citing a statement from the office of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

According to Meloni, Sala’s release became possible after “intensive work on diplomatic and intelligence channels.”

Cecilia Sala traveled to Tehran on Dec. 12, 2024, on an eight day journalist visa with official guarantees for foreign correspondents. During her visit, Sala gave several interviews and produced three podcast episodes. On Dec. 20, 2024, Sala was to return home but went missing the morning of Dec. 19.

“The last story Sala shared on her podcast was about Zeinab Mousavi, Iran’s renowned comic, who was arrested and is still on trial for making people laugh. Mousavi managed to write funny stories about her life in jail. We truly hope Sala will recall those words when she is in isolation herself. We are confident she will stay strong and endure everything,” Il Foglio wrote after the journalist’s detention.

After Sala’s detention, PEN Ukraine called upon international human rights organizations and media to struggle for her release. “Journalism in compliance with all the professional rules is not a crime. Italian authorities, human rights defenders, and journalists must make every effort to widely publicize the information of an Italian correspondent’s illegal arrest, facilitate her release and be returned home to her family,” read the PEN Ukraine statement. The statement was signed by PEN Ukraine members, among them Volodymyr Yermolenko, Myroslava Barchuk, Ostap Slyvynskyi, Alim Aliev, Anatolii Dnistrovyi, Larysa Denysenko, Iryna Slavinska, Kateryna Kalytko, Marko Robert Stekh, and Ola Hnatiuk.

Cecilia Sala is an Italian journalist and author of the Stories podcast on Chora Media. Sala has worked for Il Foglio since April 2022 — her first reports about Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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Main image: BBC

Copy editing: Terra Friedman King