Iran confirmed on Monday that it had arrested Italian journalist Cecilia Sala for “violating the law”, state media reported, a move decried by Italy.
Tehran confirmed Monday that an Italian journalist has been arrested on charges of violating the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran, state media reported.
The country’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, which oversees media activity, said in a statement that Cecilia Sala traveled to Iran on December 13 on a journalist visa and was arrested six days later on charges of violating the Islamic Republic’s laws, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
The statement also said that Sala’s case is under investigation, adding that the Italian embassy in Tehran was informed after her arrest.
The ministry said that Sala’s arrest was carried out under relevant regulations and she was granted consular access.
She has also contacted her family by phone.
On Friday, Italy’s foreign ministry said the Iranian police detained Sala in the Iranian capital on December 19, while she was working with Iranian authorities “to clarify the legal situation of Sala and to verify the conditions of her detention.”
Sala is a reporter for the Italian daily Il Foglio, which said she is being held in Tehran’s Evin prison.
Il Foglio said Sala was in Iran on a regular visa “to report on a country she knows and loves.”
Since the 1979 U.S. Embassy crisis, which saw dozens of hostages released after 444 days in captivity, Iran has used prisoners with Western ties as bargaining chips in negotiations with the world.
In September 2023, five Americans detained for years in Iran were freed in exchange for five Iranians in US custody and for $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets to be released by South Korea.
Western journalists have been held in the past as well. Roxana Saberi, an American journalist, was detained by Iran in 2009 for some 100 days before being released.
Also detained by Iran was Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian , who was held for over 540 days before being released in 2016 in a prisoner swap between Iran and the US.
Both cases involved Iran making false espionage accusations in closed-door hearings.
