Italian journalist Cecilia Sala returns to Rome following weeks of imprisonment in Iran

According to state news agency IRNA, she was accused of violating the laws of the Islamic Republic. Italian analysts had speculated that Tehran detained Sala as a bargaining chip to ensure the release of Abedini. Iranian officials dismissed these allegations and stressed that Sala’s arrest was in no way a move to pressure Rome into releasing Abedini. Abedini – arrested on 16 December at Milan’s Malpensa Airport – remains in detention in Italy.