Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani summoned the Iranian ambassador on Thursday in connection with the two-week detention of Italian journalist Cecilia Salova in Tehran. TASR informs about it according to the report of the AFP agency.
“Since the first day of Cecilia Sal’s arrest, the government has been working tirelessly to bring her home, asking that all of her rights be respected,” Tajani wrote on X Network. “We will not leave Cecilia or her parents alone until she is released.” he added.
She is imprisoned in solitary confinement
Salová (29) is a correspondent for Il Foglio and a podcast author. She arrived in Iran on December 13 on a journalist’s visa, and was detained on December 19 for allegedly violating the country’s laws, according to the Iranian Ministry of Culture, which is in charge of accreditation and supervision of foreign journalists in the country.
According to Italian media, Salová was on the phone with her relatives on Wednesday. She told them she was in solitary confinement, sleeping on the floor of a cell with the light on all the time.
The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked Iran for her immediate release in the form of the so-called of the verbal note, which was interpreted on Wednesday through its ambassador in Tehran, Paola Amadeiova, reports ANSA.
The package was not delivered to the journalist in prison
The ambassador also visited the journalist in Evín prison. At the same time, she allegedly left a package with hygiene items and a mask to cover her eyes for her, so that she could sleep in the prison. However, according to the Italian media, it was not delivered to the journalist in prison.
Tajani called Sala’s detention unacceptable. But he said getting her released would be difficult. The head of EU diplomacy, Kaja Kallasová, has already called on Tehran to release the journalist immediately.
Salova’s arrest took place a few days after a Swiss-Iranian businessman was detained at Milan airport on the basis of a US arrest warrant. The US issued the warrant against him for the alleged delivery of parts to drones that were to be used in an attack in Jordan in January 2023, when three American soldiers were killed, ANSA reminds.
Salová last published on the X platform on December 17 a link to her podcast called “Conversation about patriarchy in Tehran”. She previously also worked as a correspondent in Ukraine, where she reported on the war being waged there by Russia, an ally of Iran.
