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.
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