Brussels/Rome (ANSA) – The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas calls for “the immediate release of the Italian reporter Cecilia Sala, arrested in Iran”. “No one – she stated – should be detained for doing their job, journalism is not a crime.” “Every journalist must have the freedom to report without fear of being arrested or persecuted,” she added, emphasizing how the role of journalism is “more essential than ever” as the world faces the crisis.
Sala, in Iran to carry out journalistic services, was detained on December 19 by Tehran police authorities. According to the Foreign Media department of Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the reporter was allegedly arrested “for violating the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.
A vague formula that seems to confirm the hypotheses that emerged since the beginning of the incident about the real intentions of the regime, namely to use the young reporter as a bargaining chip to obtain the release of Mohammad Abedini Najafabadi, a drone expert engineer arrested in Malpensa on December 16, who faces an extradition request from the United States.
Washington, as well as Tehran, is the interlocutor of Rome in this negotiation, which, according to the government’s admission, is delicate and complex (January 2).
