Rome — An Italian journalist held in custody in Iran for three weeks and whose fate was intertwined with that of an Iranian engineer wanted by the United States was released Wednesday and is on his way home, Italian officials announced.
The plane that carries Cecilia Sala flew out of Tehran after “intensive work through diplomatic and intelligence channels,” Georgia Prime Minister Maloney's office said, adding that Maloney had informed Sala's parents of the news.
Iranian media acknowledged the journalist's release, referring only to foreign reports. Iranian officials have not commented.
Sala, a 29-year-old reporter for the daily newspaper Il Foglio, was detained in Tehran on December 19, three days after she arrived on a journalist's visa. She was accused of violating the laws of the Islamic Republic, the official IRNA news agency said, but Iranian officials did not provide any details about her alleged violations.
Elena Di Vincenzo/Elena Di Vincenzo Archives/Mondadori Portfolio/Getty
News of Sala's release was met with jubilation in Italy, where her plight dominated the headlines as lawmakers hailed successful negotiations to bring her home.
This comes after Meloni made a surprise trip to Florida last weekend to meet US President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Meloni tweeted about Sally's return in a statement on X, in which she thanked “everyone who helped make Cecilia's return possible by allowing her to remember her family and colleagues.”
Italian commentators suggested that Iran was holding Sal as a bargaining chip to secure the release of Mohammad Abedini, who had been arrested at Milan's Malpensa airport three days earlier on December 16 on a US warrant. Iranian analysts who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity said the same thing.
The U.S. Department of Justice charged Abedini and another Iranian with supplying Iran with drones that were used in a January 2024 attack on a U.S. outpost in Jordan that killed three American soldiers. He remains in custody in Italy.
Their fates turned into a diplomatic tangle when the foreign ministries of each country summoned the other's ambassadors to demand the release of the prisoners and decent conditions. This saga was especially difficult for Italy, which is a historical ally of Washington, but traditionally maintains good relations with Tehran.
Since 1979 US Embassy Crisisin which dozens of hostages were freed after 444 days in captivity, Iran used the Western-linked prisoners as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the rest of the world.
In September 2023, there will be five Americans held in Iran for years have been released in exchange for five Iranians in US custody and $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets to be released by South Korea.
Western journalists have been detained before. Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian held for more than 540 days before release in 2016 during a prisoner exchange between Iran and the United States