Italian journalist Cecilia Sala released from Iran

An Italian journalist detained in Iran since December 19 and whose fate became intertwined with that of an Iranian engineer wanted by the United States has been freed and is heading home, officials announced.

A plane carrying Cecilia Sala took off from Tehran after “intensive work on diplomatic and intelligence channels”, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s office said, adding that Ms Meloni had informed Sala’s parents of the news.

There was no immediate word from the Iranian government on the journalist’s release.

Ms Sala, a 29-year-old reporter for the Il Foglio daily, was detained in Tehran 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.

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

The US Justice Department accused him and another Iranian of supplying the drone technology to Iran that was used in a January 2024 attack on an American outpost in Jordan that killed three American troops.

He remains in detention in Italy.