By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
ROME/TEHRAN (Worthy News) – Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was back home Thursday after spending nearly three weeks behind bars in one of Iran’s most notorious prisons.
Sala landed at an airport near Rome on Wednesday afternoon, just hours after Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office announced she was on her way home.
Sala had been detained in Tehran while on assignment, officials said.
The 29-year-old journalist was reportedly arrested for what Iran said was her involvement in “violating the law” of the Islamic Republic.
According to her supporters, Sala entered Iran on a valid journalist visa in mid-December and was scheduled to return to Rome on December 20.
However, Worthy News learned she was arrested a day before her departure.
Her release followed “intensive efforts through diplomatic and intelligence channels,” Meloni’s office declared.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE
“Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expresses her gratitude to everyone who contributed to Cecilia’s return, allowing her to reunite with her family and colleagues.” Meloni personally informed Sala’s family over the phone of her release.
One of Sala’s employers, the Italian podcast company Chora Media, had earlier reported that the journalist was held in solitary confinement at Tehran’s feared Evin Prison.
That detention facility has been holding political prisoners as well as Christians, Worthy News documented.
Sala had told her family that she was forced to sleep on the floor in a cell where the lights remained on constantly, sources familiar with the situation said.
Italy summoned the Iranian ambassador last week to demand Sala’s release. The following day, Iran reportedly summoned the Italian ambassador to address the detention of an Iranian citizen in Italy.
Iranian national Mohammad Abedini had been arrested three days before Sala’s detention, as the U.S. Justice Department accused him of involvement in a deadly drone attack.
He and another Iranian allegedly supplied drone technology to Iran used in a January 2024 attack on a U.S. outpost in Jordan that killed three American troops. He remains in detention in Italy.
Iran has denied any connection between Sala’s case and Abedini’s.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
Nigeria’s former president Muhammadu Buhari, who captured global headlines as the first opposition leader to unseat an incumbent at the ballot box, has died in London at the age of 82, after a long illness, officials confirmed Sunday.
Russia and North Korea have agreed to “strengthen” their strategic relationship amid indications that Moscow will use more North Korean forces and weapons in its war against Ukraine.
Baptist Christians in northern Nigeria are mourning the death of their pastor who was among two killed during a worship service, while several Christians were murdered or abducted elsewhere, Worthy News learned Saturday.
France and Saudi Arabia will convene a high-level international conference aimed at advancing the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on July 28-29, multiple diplomatic sources confirmed Friday.
President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the United States has reached a new deal with NATO to provide weapons to Ukraine, with full reimbursement from the alliance. The announcement follows growing frustration over Russia’s intensifying assault on Ukrainian civilians and a temporary Pentagon pause on U.S. arms shipments earlier this month.
Civilians backed by Sudanese security forces have demolished the building of a Pentecostal Church in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, Christians told Worthy News Friday.
There was mounting concern Friday that Ukraine will be split up under a future peace deal and that Kyiv will be forced to accept it due to relentless Russian long-range drone and missile strikes.