Cecilia Sala in Evin, 'charges not formalized' says Chora

(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 27 - Cecilia Sala's podcast publisher Chora Media said Friday the 29-year-old Rome-born journalist who was arrested in Tehran on December 19 is being held in the Iranian capital's notorious Evin Prison, where dissidents are detained, that charges against her had yet to be formalised, and that Italy and the EU can't tolerate such an "arbitrary" arrest.
    "Cecilia Sala was arrested in Tehran on Thursday 19 December and has been in prison, in an isolation cell, for a week," Chora Media said in a statement. "She was taken to Evin prison, where dissidents are held, and the reason for her incomprehensible arrest has not yet been formalized.
    "We are making this terrible news public only now because the Italian authorities and Cecilia's parents had asked us to remain silent, a silence that they hoped could have led to a rapid release, which unfortunately has not yet occurred".
    "Cecilia - the note continues - had left Rome for Iran on December 12 with a regular journalist visa and the protections of a traveling journalist. She had done a series of interviews and produced three episodes of her podcast Stories by Chora News.
    She was supposed to return to Rome on December 20, but on the morning of the 19th, after exchanging messages, her phone went silent.
    Knowing Cecilia, who has always sent the audio for the podcast episodes with extreme punctuality even from the Ukrainian front in the most difficult moments, we were worried and, together with her partner, the Post journalist Daniele Raineri, we alerted the Crisis Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
    "We called her Iranian contacts, but no one knew where she had ended up. On Friday morning she did not board the return flight and the situation became even more distressing.
    "A few hours later her phone turned back on: Cecilia called her mother and told her that she had been arrested, taken to prison and that she had been allowed to make a short phone call. She was unable to say anything else.
    "From that moment on, the Italian authorities, in whom we place all our trust and with whom we are in constant contact, began working to understand what had happened and to bring her home.
    "Only after eight days, on Friday 27 December, Cecilia was able to receive a visit from the Italian ambassador in Tehran in prison.
    "Cecilia Sala is a professional journalist who works for Chora News and Il Foglio, and was in Iran to do her job with the scrupulousness, care, passion and professionalism that everyone recognises in her.
    "Her free voice has been silenced and Italy and Europe cannot tolerate this arbitrary arrest.
    "Cecilia Sala must be freed immediately. #FreeCecilia", the note concludes. (ANSA).