ROME: Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Thursday summoned the Iranian ambassador to Rome over the detention of an Italian journalist who has been kept in solitary confinement since her arrest in Tehran two weeks ago.
Tajani posted on X, “The government, as it has done since day one of Cecilia Sala’s arrest, is working tirelessly to bring her home, and we demand that all her rights be respected. ” We will not leave Cecilia and her. to his parents until his release.”
Sala, 29, traveled to Iran on Dec. 13 on a journalist’s visa and was arrested on Dec. 19 for “violating the law of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” according to Iran’s Ministry of Culture, which is not official. Monitors and recognizes national journalists. According to Iran-Italian media reports, Sala told her family in a phone call on Wednesday that she was being held in solitary confinement, sleeping on the floor in a cell with the light constantly on.
Italian media reported that Paola Amadi, Rome’s ambassador to Tehran, had visited Sala but a care package for the Italian reporter she had given to authorities – including an eye mask to help her sleep and sanitary products. Included, not handed over.
Tajani has called his arrest “unacceptable” but said efforts to free him from Tehran’s Avon prison were complicated.