Italian journalist detained for nearly a month in Iran is freed

An Italian journalist detained in Iran for three weeks and whose fate became intertwined with that of an Iranian engineer wanted by the United States was freed Wednesday and is heading home, Italian officials announced.

A plane carrying Cecilia Sala took off from Tehran after "intensive work on diplomatic and intelligence channels," Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's office said, adding that Meloni had informed Sala's parents of the news.

Iranian media acknowledged the journalist's release, citing only the foreign reports.

Iranian officials offered no immediate comment.

Iran cited unspecified violations of law

Sala, a 29-year-old reporter for the Il Foglio daily, was detained in Tehran on Dec. 19, three days after she arrived on a journalist visa. She was accused of violating the laws of the Islamic Republic, the official IRNA news agency said.

The detention came not long after Sala had recorded a podcast describing societal changes in Iran.

Word of Sala's release was met with cheers in Italy, where her plight had dominated headlines and led to demonstrations. 

Meloni tweeted Sala's return in a statement on X in which she thanked "all those who helped make Cecilia's return possible, allowing her to reembrace her family and colleagues."

Italian commentators had speculated that Iran was holding Sala as a bargaining chip to ensure the release of Mohammad Abedini, who was arrested at Milan's Malpensa airport three days before, on Dec. 16, on a U.S. warrant.

The U.S. Justice Department accused him and another Iranian of supplying the drone technology to Iran that was used in a January 2024 attack on a U.S. outpost in Jordan that killed three American troops. He remains in detention in Italy.

The saga was particularly complicated for Italy, which is a historic ally of Washington but maintains traditionally good relations with Tehran.

Since the 1979 U.S. Embassy crisis, Iran has used prisoners with Western ties as bargaining chips in negotiations with the world.

In September 2023, five Americans detained for years in Iran were freed in exchange for five Iranians in U.S. custody and for $6 billion US in frozen Iranian assets to be released by South Korea.

Western journalists and aid workers have been held in the past as well, including American journalists Roxana Saberi and Jason Rezaian, and Briton Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was employed by Thomson Reuters Foundation, a charity that operates independently of its news subsidiary Reuters.