Italy says Iran has detained journalist Cecilia Sala for a week, and it’s still not clear why
The Italian government said on Friday that a journalist from the country had been detained by Iranian authorities for a week and the circumstances of her detention were unclear. Italy’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it was working with Iranian officials “to clarify Cecilia Sala’s legal situation and verify the conditions of her detention.”
Sarah was Iran An article published in Italy’s Il Foglio newspaper on Friday said she was detained on December 19. In the article, the newspaper’s editor called for her immediate release, saying “journalism is not a crime.”
“Cecilia came to Iran on a regular visa to tell the story of a country she knows and loves, a country where information is suffocated by repression, threats, intimidation, violence, detention, often against journalists themselves,” Il Foglio” editor Claudio Celasa The article says.
Elena Di Vincenzo/Elena Di Vincenzo Archives/Mondadori Portfolio/Getty
He said the newspaper decided to publish the story about Sarah’s detention after receiving “assurances from our head of foreign affairs that informing readers of her arrest would not slow down diplomatic efforts to bring her home” .
As of Friday, the Iranian government had not acknowledged Sala’s arrest, and the country’s state media had not reported on it. Some Iranian analysts who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity noted that Sala could be detained as a bargaining chip in negotiations over two Iranian nationals detained in Italy in recent months for alleged sanctions violations.
exist its statementItaly’s foreign ministry said Sala was detained by Tehran police while “carrying out journalistic work in Iran.” The foreign ministry said Italian Ambassador Paola Amadi had paid a consular visit to Sala “to verify” the conditions and status of Sala’s detention.
The ministry did not confirm that she was being held in Iran’s notorious Evin prison outside Tehran, Il Foglio reported. The statement said her family had been “informed of the outcome of the consular visit” but did not provide any further details.
Whatever the reason for her detention, or any charges ultimately brought against Sara, the Islamic clerics who rule Iran have a strong track record: suppress dissent.
All media in the country are tightly controlled by the government. Street protests against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Angry at young woman killed in police custody and Strictly enforce religious lawsIn recent years, it has been suppressed by force more than once.
Sarah’s latest work Article published in “Il Foglio” is a political analysis that explores the impact of the Khamenei regime Iran’s close ally in Syria collapses sharplydictator Bashar al-Assad.
