Turin sit-in urges govt to do 'impossible' for Cecilia Sala

(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 29 - A sit-in in Turin Sunday called on the Italian government to "do the impossible" to secure the release and return to Italy of Cecilia Sala, a Rome-born journalist held in Tehran since December 19 on unknown charges and possibly detained as leverage for an exchange with an Iranian businessman arrested on a US warrant in Milan December 16.
    The rally in the Piedmont capital urged the government led by Giorgia Meloni to "intervene with the utmost urgency for the release of the journalist Cecilia Sala, detained in Iran".
    About fifty people participated, including city councilors of Turin.
    The initiative was promoted by the Marco Pannella Association, the Adelaide Aglietta Association, Radical Europe, Liberal and Popular Italy, +Europa Turin, students and representatives of the Donna Vita Libertà campaign, and the Free Russians Association.
    "We know that the Italian government has asked us not to demonstrate, but we disobey, we demonstrate - explained Igor Boni (Europa Radicale) because we believe that when the news is given that for a week one of our journalists from a democratic country who provides information has been arrested without charge in a dictatorial country like Iran, the last thing to do is remain silent.
    "We are not here against the Italian government, but we ask them to do the impossible.
    "We are in the square for Cecilia Sala - added Igor Boni - but we have already demonstrated many times against the murderous theocratic regime of Iran.
    "We did it for the Iranian-Swedish doctor and researcher Ahmadreza Djalali, who worked at the University of Eastern Piedmont and who, upon returning to Iran, was arrested, accused of espionage and sentenced to death.
    "He is in the same prison where Cecilia Sala is today and there are Iranian and non-Iranian dissidents who are fighting against the regime".
    Another representative of Radical Europe, city councilor Silvio Viale, pointed out the heterogeneity of the square saying "there are representatives of various political origins. And I wish (Foreign) Minister (Antonio) Tajani all the best for success: the diplomatic initiative must be strong and not only Italian, but European, at the widest possible level". (ANSA).