Italy has asked Tehran for "total
guarantees on the condition of detention of Cecilia Sala" and
for the "immediate release" of the Italian journalist in a
verbal note which the Italian foreign ministry, through the
Italian Ambassador to Tehran Paola Amadei, has delivered to the
Iranian government as part of the work carried out by Deputy
Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, with Premier
Giorgia Meloni, Justice Minister Carlo Nordio and Cabinet
Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano, to reach a quick and positive
solution to the case, well-informed sources said.
Sala, a 29-year-old Il Foglio freelance correspondent and Chora
News podcaster, was arrested on December 19 and has been
generically charged with breaching Islamic law.
She is currently detained in solitary confinement in Tehran's
Evin prison.
Italy has first of all requested the best detention conditions
with the possibility of providing care packages, the sources
said.
On this issue, Farnesina (foreign ministry) sources have noted
that the "timing and manner of detention will be a univocal
indication of the real intentions and attitude of the Iranian
system towards the Italian Republic".
The requests delivered to Iranian authorities include a new
meeting between Italy's ambassador to Tehran and Sala after the
one held on December 27.
Tajani said he hoped it "can be granted swiftly", stressing that
officials are "working with great discretion to solve this
extremely intricate problem: we are doing everything we can, we
are constantly in contact with the family".
At the moment, the charges pressed against the journalist, who
will be granted legal assistance soon, appear to be generic,
possibly indicating that the objective of Iranian authorities
could be an exchange with Mohammad Abedini Najafabadi, a
38-year-old Swiss-Iranian businessman arrested in Milan, three
days before Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was detained in
Iran, at the request of the United States.
Abedini's alleged accomplice Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi was arrested
in the US also on December 16.
Both men have been charged by Washington with sanctions-busting
trafficking in electronic drone parts allegedly used in last
January's fatal attack on the servicemen near the Jordanian
Syrian border.
An appeals court in Milan is set to rule on an extradition
request filed by the US for Abedini, who has said he is an
academic and not a terrorist.
The court, however, will first have to rule on the request
presented by Abedini's lawyer to grant him house arrest.
Abedini is currently detained at Milan's Opera prison.
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