The journalist Cecilia Sala has been freed: she had been locked up since 19 December 2024 in the Iranian prison of Evin in Tehran.

The journalist Cecilia Sala, arrested about three weeks ago in Iran, has been freed and is currently on a flight to Italy, which left Tehran. The Italian government announced it a short while ago.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni informed her family. Sala’s flight will arrive at 3:30 p.m. at Rome Ciampino airport.

Sala works for Chora Media and for Il Foglio. She was arrested on Thursday, 19 December, around 12.30 in the hotel where she was staying in Tehran, the capital of Iran, where she had been staying for a few days with a regular journalist visa. The news only emerged on Friday, 27 December.

At the beginning of January, the Iranian regime explained that Sala’s condition was linked to that of Mohammed Abedini Najafabadi, an Iranian man arrested on December 16 at Malpensa airport in Italy at the request of the United States on charges of trafficking in warfare technology. Abedini is currently in prison: on January 15, the Milan Court of Appeal will examine his lawyers’ request for house arrest. It is unclear whether his condition will change after Sala’s release.