Press freedom organizations and the organizers of the International Journalism Festival (IJF) called on Iran on Tuesday to release Italian journalist Cecilia Sala with immediate effect.
Sala was arrested in Iran on December 19 and is being held in the notorious Evin prison. Iran confirmed her detention on December 30, when state news agency IRNA reported that she was being held after “violating the laws of the Islamic republic of Iran.”
Italy’s foreign minister has said the case was “complicated” and some reports suggested Sala was being held in retaliation for the detention of a Swiss-Iranian businessman and suspected arms dealer in Italy.
Sala, who works for the newspaper Il Foglio and the podcast company Chora Media, was in Iran on a journalist visa and was due to return to Italy on December 20. “Cecilia is a highly respected journalist and should not be used as a political pawn,” said festival co-founder and director Arianna Ciccone. “Iran has silenced her voice by putting her in jail and this is unacceptable.”
Sala has spoken several times at the world-renowned festival, which is held annually in Perugia, Italy.
Press freedom groups, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), said Sala’s arrest reflected a pattern of suppression of independent journalism in Iran and highlighted the willingness of Iran to target both foreign and domestic reporters as a means to stifle reporting critical of the regime.
“Iran has a long and ignominious history of jailing journalists – as well as of targeting reporters and their families at home and abroad,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg. “Cecilia Sala’s arrest is a powerful reminder of the daily threats faced by those reporting in and about Iran and she and all those wrongfully detained by Iran should be released immediately.”
Iran is one of the world’s worst jailers of journalists. Preliminary figures from the Committee to Protect Journalists showed there were 16 journalists in jail as of December 1, 2024, which would make the country the 7th biggest jailer of journalists worldwide.
“The detention of Cecilia Sala, without any reason having been officially communicated by the Iranian authorities, and despite the fact that the journalist had a valid visa, presents all the characteristics of arbitrary detention,” said RSF Director General Thibaut Bruttin. “We are also concerned about her conditions of detention as she is held in solitary confinement in Evin prison – infamous for being the cruel place where free voices critical of the regime are detained.”
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director.
Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director | Radio Free (2024-12-31T08:00:00+00:00) CPJ, RSF, IJF call for release of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2024/12/31/cpj-rsf-ijf-call-for-release-of-italian-journalist-cecilia-sala/
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