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An Italian journalist has been under arrest in Iran for more than a week, Italy’s foreign ministry has said. <\/p>\n
Cecilia Sala works for Il Foglio newspaper and for podcast company Chora Media.<\/p>\n
The foreign ministry said it was following Ms Sala’s case with “utmost attention” since she was detained by Tehran police on 19 December.<\/p>\n
There was no immediate confirmation of the arrest by Iranian officials.<\/p>\n
Chora Media said in a separate statement that Ms Sala was being held in solitary confinement at the Evin prison in Tehran and that no reason had been given for her arrest. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Italy’s foreign ministry revealed that Rome’s ambassador to Tehran, Paola Amadei, had paid her a visit to check on the conditions in which she was being held, adding that she had been allowed to make two phone calls to her family. <\/p>\n
It also said Italy “has been working with Iranian authorities to clarify Cecilia Sala’s legal situation”. <\/p>\n
According to Chora Media, Ms Sala left Rome for Iran on 12 December with a valid journalist visa and had carried out several interviews, producing three episodes of her “Stories” podcast.<\/p>\n
It added that she had been due to fly back to Rome on 20 December, but her phone went “silent” after she exchanged a few messages on 19 December. <\/p>\n
Sala’s other employer, Il Foglio, has called for her release, saying “journalism is not a crime”. <\/p>\n
“Cecilia was in Iran, with a regular visa, to report on a country she knows and loves, a country in which information is suffocated by repression,” the newspaper said in a statement on its website. <\/p>\n
Last week, Iran summoned the Swiss ambassador in Tehran and a senior Italian diplomat over the arrest of two Iranian nationals, Reuters reported, citing Iranian media.<\/p>\n
Iran was rocked by protests in 2022 after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September of that year. Tens of thousands of people were arrested in connection with the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests. <\/p>\n
Mahsa had been arrested for allegedly breaking Iranian laws that require women to wear the hijab and she died in police custody.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n