ROME (AP) — Italy summoned Iran’s ambassador on Thursday to call for the fast liberate of an Italian journalist detained in Tehran, as the federal government and opposition ramped up public force at the politically delicate case.Cecilia Sala, a reporter for the Il Foglio day-to-day newspaper, was once detained in Tehran on Dec. 19, six days after she arrived on a journalist’s visa. Tehran showed Monday that Sala were arrested on fees of violating the rules of the Islamic Republic of Iran, consistent with the state-run IRNA information company.The Italian overseas ministry stated it summoned Iran’s Ambassador Mohammad Reza Sabouri to call for her liberate and to verify “dignified detention prerequisites in complete appreciate of human rights,” together with consular get right of entry to and visitations.Italy’s opposition Democratic Birthday celebration additionally demanded her fast liberate, mentioning Italian media reviews a couple of telephone name Sala’s circle of relatives gained from her indicating she was once drowsing at the ground and had now not gained a 2d bundle of private pieces from the embassy.
“The scoop of her prerequisites of detention are alarming,” the birthday party stated in a remark. “The inhuman remedy she is present process is unacceptable.”
Sala’s case has ruled Italian headlines for days or even featured in President Sergio Mattarella’s end-of-year speech to the country.Complicating issues are indications that Sala’s destiny has turn into intertwined with that of an Iranian guy detained in Italy on Dec. 16. Mohammad Abedini-Najafabad was once arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport on a U.S. warrant alleging he was once concerned within the Jan. 28, 2024, drone assault in Jordan that killed 3 American troops.
U.S. federal prosecutors have charged Abedini and a co-defendant with export keep an eye on violations after FBI experts analyzed the drone navigation machine used within the Jordan assault and traced it to them.The U.S. Justice Division declined to touch upon whether or not there was once a hyperlink between the Sala case and its drone investigation.
Abedini’s Italian attorney, Alfredo De Francesco, requested the Milan courtroom this week to grant him space arrest, a choice this is pending, De Francesco stated in an electronic mail. He declined to reply when requested to remark at the U.S. fees or imaginable hyperlinks to the Sala case.Italian media have reported that Sala is largely getting used as a bargaining chip through Iran to protected Abedini’s liberate. Italian International Minister Antonio Tajani didn’t dispute that state of affairs when he was once requested about it all the way through a call-in to the Rete4 broadcast Sunday.Ever because the 1979 U.S. Embassy disaster in Iran, during which dozens of U.S. hostages spent 444 days in captivity in Tehran, Iran has often used prisoners with Western ties as bargaining chips in negotiations.
