Italian journalist's detainment in Iran sparks high-stakes talks over her freedom

Italian journalist Cecilia Sala has been detained in Iran since Dec. 19 on charges of breaching Islamic law, her plight sparking outrage and a flurry of diplomatic activity involving Rome, Tehran and Washington.

Sala, who travelled to Iran with a journalist visa, is being held in the country's infamous Evin Prison. 

The 29-year-old reporter, known for her popular podcast and television appearances, is now at the centre of an international standoff.

This week, Italy's Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador, demanding her immediate release. On Thursday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with Sala's mother, pledging to do everything possible to secure her release.

Sala's empathetic storytelling and risk-taking reporting have led her from war zones to political upheavals across the globe. She filed her last report from Tehran on Dec. 16.

Speaking into a smartphone camera, she described significant societal changes in the Islamic Republic: how hundreds of thousands of women are defying strict mandates and appearing in public without the veil; how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was sending messages to Iranians claiming the Islamic regime's days are numbered; and how the new reformist Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian opposed harsh sanctions against women for not wearing the veil.

Three days after that podcast report, she was seized and placed in solitary confinement inside Evin Prison.

"She'd be in a cell very similar to the one I was held in, about six feet by four," said Jason Rezaian, a former Washington Post bureau chief who was imprisoned in Evin for 18 months.

"The lights are on 24 hours a day, you have 20-30 minutes of fresh air while blindfolded, nothing to occupy time, and are probably subjected to harsh interrogations based on nothing."

Italian media report Sala is in solitary confinement, her eyeglasses have been confiscated and she's sleeping on a frigid floor.

A broader geopolitical conflict

While reporting from Iran is always risky, according to Rezaian — he says he always advises journalists not to go — he suggests that Sala's arrest is unrelated to her reporting and instead tied to a broader geopolitical conflict.

Just three days before her detention, Italian police at Milan's Malpensa Airport arrested Mohammad Abedini, an Iranian businessman wanted by U.S. authorities.

Abedini is accused of supplying drone components that prosecutors say were used in an attack that killed three U.S. soldiers in Jordan a year ago.

Iran has denied involvement in the attack, and its Foreign Ministry was quoted in Iranian media as saying Abedini's arrest violated international law.

The Iranian Embassy in Rome on Thursday linked Sala's arrest to Abedini's. An Iranian Foreign Ministry official "urged Italy to reject America's hostage policy — which is contrary to international law, particularly human rights — and provide for Mr. [Mohammad] Abedini's release as soon as possible and prevent damage to bilateral ties," state media reported.

The charges in context

"Sala was very unfortunate to be in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Roberto Menotti, deputy editor in chief of the think-tank journal Aspenia. "Ninety-nine per cent of the time, what she was doing would go completely unnoticed."

Menotti said that Sala has not been accused of spying, as is often the case with foreign journalists detained in Iran.

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Iranian journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi have had their sentences reduced by nearly half after one of the charges against them was was dropped. But they're still facing five years behind bars — a sentence Iranian authorities say could be carried out at any time. Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the U.S.-based Center for Human Rights in Iran, spoke to As It Happens host Nil Koksal.

"One of the few silver linings here is the Iranians were unable to specify any significant charge, just violating Islamic law, which doesn't mean much," Menotti said.

However, he warns the parallel structures of executive power in Iran — which include the paramilitary Pasdaran, the clerical elite and the presidency and diplomats — coupled with the current geopolitical climate, with Iran in conflict with Israel, complicate negotiations for her release.

"The regime [is] less motivated to improve relations with the West. They're probably willing to negotiate on specific issues, but they're not interested in reactivating a general dialogue with Europe, with Italy or with the U.S. And that makes them very dangerous," he said. "They don't have much to lose."

Possible prisoner exchange 

Making her case even tricker is the U.S. request for Abedini's extradition from Italy, which creates additional diplomatic hurdles.

An appeals court in Milan will review a house arrest request for Abedini on Jan. 15. U.S. officials deem him dangerous, while Tehran is demanding his release, with a U.S. State Department spokesperson telling La Repubblica that Sala's detention was allegedly a reprisal.  

Recent editorials in Italian papers have called for Italy to take a hardline stance against striking a deal with Iran for Abedini's release. Menotti says these will put Iran under more pressure and not help Sala's case. 

Sala's parents, in the meantime, have asked for a "suspension of media debate" surrounding their daughter.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has called Sala's situation an "extremely intricate problem," saying Italy is following the case "minute by minute."

The Foreign Ministry is pressing for embassy staff in Tehran to visit Sala and provide her with basic comfort items.

Rezaian, who has become an outspoken advocate for those detained on what he calls spurious charges by countries such as Iran, Russia, China, Venezuela and others, says major liberal democracies must take a stronger, unified stance against these imprisonments.

"I tend to look at these cases as a trend, almost as a serial crime," he said. "This is a phenomenon that a growing number of authoritarian states are using. It's a tool. A foreign policy tool."