Italy summons Iranian ambassador, demands release of journalist Cecilia Sala
Italy’s foreign ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador to demand the immediate release of reporter Cecilia Sala, who was seized in Tehran earlier this month.
Italy’s foreign ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador on Thursday to demand the immediate release of reporter Cecilia Sala, who was seized in Tehran on Dec. 19 while working under a regular journalistic visa.
The ministry said in a statement it had relayed “serious concern” over Sala’s detention and stressed the need for humane treatment and respect for her human rights.
The Iranian embassy in Rome later said Sala was being given all the humanitarian care necessary, and for the first time, linked her case to that of an Iranian national, who was arrested last month in Milan at the request of the United States.
Italian media have reported that Sala is in solitary confinement in a freezing cold cell with a neon light left on night and day. Her glasses have been confiscated and she has had hardly any contact with the outside world.
The secretary general of the Italian foreign ministry, Riccardo Guariglia, demanded that embassy staff in Tehran should be allowed to visit Sala and provide her with “the comfort items that she has been denied so far”, the ministry said.
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