dpa
Rome
Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, who was detained in Iran nearly three weeks ago, has been released by Iranian authorities and was on a plane back to Italy on Wednesday, according to the government in Rome.
Sala, who works for Italian daily Il Foglio and runs a well-known podcast, was arrested in the Iranian capital on December 19 - one day before she was due to fly home - on accusations of violating the country’s media law. She reportedly had a regular work visa for journalists. The 29-year-old reporter was held in solitary confinement at Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.
Italian media reported that in the few phone calls she was allowed to make, Sala complained to relatives about the conditions she was kept in, including being forced to sleep on the floor without a mattress and under a light that never went out. Her glasses were also said to have been taken away.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she had personally informed Sala’s parents of the news in a phone call.
Sala’s plight sparked a diplomatic row between Rome and Tehran, with top European Union officials in Brussels also weighing in to offer their condemnation.
