ROME — Italy summoned Iran’s ambassador on Thursday to demand the fast launch of an Italian journalist detained in Tehran, as the federal government and opposition ramped up public strain on the politically delicate case.
Cecilia Sala, a reporter for the Il Foglio day by day newspaper, was detained in Tehran on Dec. 19, six days after she arrived on a journalist’s visa. Tehran confirmed Monday that Sala had been arrested on expenses of violating the legal guidelines of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in line with the state-run IRNA information company.
The Italian international ministry stated it summoned Iran’s ambassador Mohammad Reza Sabouri to demand her launch and to make sure “dignified detention situations in full respect of human rights,” together with consular entry and visitations.
Italy’s opposition Democratic Get together additionally demanded her fast launch, citing Italian media studies a couple of cellphone name Sala’s household acquired from her indicating she was sleeping on the ground and had not acquired a second package deal of private gadgets from the embassy.
“The information of her situations of detention are alarming,” the Democrats stated in an announcement. “The inhuman therapy she is present process is unacceptable.”
Sala’s case has dominated Italian headlines for days and even featured in President Sergio Mattarella’s end-of-year speech to the nation.
Complicating issues are indications that Sala’s destiny has grow to be intertwined with that of an Iranian man detained in Italy on Dec. 16. Mohammad Abedini-Najafabad was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport on a U.S. warrant alleging he was concerned within the Jan. 28, 2024, drone assault in Jordan that killed three American troops.
U.S. federal prosecutors have charged Abedini and a co-defendant with export management violations after FBI specialists analyzed the drone navigation system used within the Jordan assault and traced it to them.
The U.S. Justice Division declined to touch upon whether or not there was a hyperlink between the Sala case and its drone investigation.
Abedini’s Italian lawyer, Alfredo De Francesco, requested the Milan court docket this week to grant him home arrest, a call that’s pending, De Francesco stated in an electronic mail. He declined to reply when requested to touch upon the U.S. expenses or attainable hyperlinks to the Sala case.
Italian media have reported that Sala is basically getting used as a bargaining chip by Iran to safe Abedini’s launch. Italian Overseas Minister Antonio Tajani didn’t dispute that state of affairs when he was requested about it throughout a call-in to the Rete4 broadcast Sunday.
Ever because the 1979 U.S. Embassy disaster in Iran, during which dozens of U.S. hostages spent 444 days in captivity in Tehran, Iran has ceaselessly used prisoners with Western ties as bargaining chips in negotiations.
Winfield writes for the Related Press.
