Italian Journalist/Hostage Released from Iranian Prison in Swap for Iranian Terrorist

Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, 29, is FREED after spending three weeks in an Iranian prison in swap deal for Iranian terrorist

An Italian journalist left to languish in an Iranian prison for three weeks has returned home amid speculation she was released in exchange for an Iranian engineer accused of terrorism. 

Cecilia Sala, 29, embraced her boyfriend Daniele Raineri after landing at Rome's Ciampino airport, before greeting Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni.

In announcing that the journalist was flying home, Ms Meloni's office said the premier had personally informed Sala's parents and credited the release to the government's 'intensive work on diplomatic and intelligence channels'.

According to The Times, she told Sala at the airport: 'Now you just need to stay serene, don't say anything — I am here to thank you and tell you that you were strong.'

The journalist was detained on December 19 and thrown into solitary confinement for 'violating' the Islamic Republic's harsh laws.'

However, analysts noted the timing of the arrest coincided with the United States and Italy arresting Mohammad Abedini, a Swiss-Iranian wanted over export violations linked to a deadly attack on American servicemen.

The US Justice Department accused Mr Abedini and another Iranian of supplying the drone technology to Iran that was used in a January 2024 attack on a US outpost in Jordan that killed three American troops. 

Free at last: Cecilia Sala, 29, greeted Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni as she landed at Rome's Ciampino airport on Wednesday

Sala is embraced by her parents after landing, having spent three weeks in a prison in Iran

The journalist was detained on December 19 and thrown into solitary confinement for 'violating' the Islamic Republic's harsh laws'

Sala's release was met with cheers in Italy, where her plight had dominated headlines.

Lawmakers from across the political spectrum praised the outcome, with the opposition Democratic leader Elly Schlein thanking the government specifically.

Her release came after Ms Meloni made a surprise trip to Florida last weekend to meet Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate, where it is believed the pair discussed the case.

Ms Meloni in a statement on X thanked 'all those who helped make Cecilia's return possible, allowing her to re-embrace her family and colleagues'.

Members of Ms Meloni's cabinet took personal interest in the case given the geopolitical implications. Foreign minister Antonio Tanaji hailed the diplomatic teamwork involved to secure Ms Sala's release.

Ahmad Rafat, an Italian-Iranian journalist based in Britain, said: 'I have been told by an Italian political source Trump agreed not to protest — once he is in office — if Italy releases Abedini in return for Iran freeing Sala.' 

Sala was released amid speculation her freedom was in exchange for Iranian engineer Mohammad Abedini, who is accused of terrorism

Sala's release was met with cheers in Italy, where her plight had dominated headlines

Sala's boyfriend Daniele Raineri runs towards the freed journalist as her flight landed

Advocacy group Reporters Without Borders, which had flagged Ms Sala's detention as an attack on press freedom, also celebrated her release.

'Now the 25 journalists still held in Iranian prisons must also be released,' the group said in a social media post.

Since the 1979 US Embassy crisis, which saw dozens of hostages released after 444 days in captivity, Iran has used prisoners with Western ties as bargaining chips in negotiations.

In September 2023, five Americans detained for years in Iran were freed in exchange for five Iranians in US custody and for 6 billion dollars in frozen Iranian assets to be released by South Korea.

Western journalists have been held in the past. Roxana Saberi, an American journalist, was detained by Iran in 2009 for around 100 days before being released.

Also detained by Iran was Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, who was held for more than 540 days before being released in 2016 in a prisoner swap between Iran and the US.

Both cases involved Iran making false espionage accusations in closed-door hearings.

The saga began after Sala travelled to Iran on December 13 on a journalist's visa. 

Sala had travelled to Iran on December 13 on a journalist's visa. She was arrested six days later for 'violating the law of the Islamic Republic of Iran', according to the country's culture ministry

The journalist, who writes for the Italian daily Il Foglio and is the host of a news podcast produced by Chora media, had recently released a podcast episode about an Iranian woman who had rejected Muslim values

During a phone call with her family, Sala said she had been sleeping on the floor in a cell with the lights permanently on, Italian media reported 

She was arrested six days later for 'violating the law of the Islamic Republic of Iran', according to the country's culture ministry. 

Sala had been due to return home to Italy the following day. 

Her last post on X before her arrest was a link to her latest podcast episode, which she captioned: 'A conversation about patriarchy in Tehran'. 

During a phone call with her family, Sala said she had been sleeping on the floor in a cell with the lights permanently on, Italian media reported.

The foreign ministry's secretary general Riccardo Guariglia then met with ambassador Mohammad Reza Sabouri to discuss Sala in what was described as a 'friendly meeting'.

Guariglia told Iran's envoy that Italian embassy staff in Tehran should be allowed to visit the journalist 'and provide her with the comfort items that have been denied to date', the foreign ministry said.

They also discussed Iranian citizen Mohammad Abedini, who is 'detained in the prison of Milan', the statement added.

Abedini, 38, was arrested in Italy last month at the request of American authorities, for supplying sophisticated drone navigation technology to Iran's military in violation of US sanctions laws.

Protesters demanded the immediate release of Sala in Turin, Italy, on 29 December 2024

Elisabetta Vernoni, mother of Cecilia Sala, had a meeting with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome last week to discuss her daughter's plight

The components were later used in a January drone strike at a Jordanian military base near the Syrian border that killed three American service members.

A second man, naturalized American-Iranian Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi, 42, was also arrested in the United States and charged with conspiring with Abedini.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14264571/Italian-journalist-Cecilia-Sala-29-FREED-spending-three-weeks-notorious-Iranian-jail-amid-talks-swap-deal.html

Italian cops investigate multiple New Year's Eve sex attacks on women in central Milan as tourist, 20, describes being surrounded by dozens of Muslim men and groped

Italian police are investigating multiple New Year's Eve sex attacks on women in central Milan reminiscent of the horrifying assaults in Cologne in 2016. 

The investigation was launched on January 7 after one of the attacked women spoke to Belgian media and described being surrounded by dozens of men who groped her. 

Laura Barbier, 20, a student from Liege, in Belgium, had traveled to Milan, Italy, with five friends aged 20 and 21 to celebrate the New Year. 

The group of four young women and two men watched the fireworks on the Piazza del Duomo outside Milan's cathedral, where men wearing balaclavas were filmed causing chaotic scenes by shooting fireworks into the crowd on the same night.

'Young people set off fireworks into the crowd, to create a crowd movement. It was very dangerous, we had a feeling of unease, as if there was going to be an attack,' Laura told Belgian broadcaster RTL.

Feeling unsafe, Laura said she and her friends tried to leave the square, but they were stopped by a mob of 30 to 40 men who surrounded them, shouting shouting 'vaffanculo Italia' ('f*** off Italy') and 'polizia di merda' ('s*** police').

'That's when we were touched on our bodies, on our clothes and some of us, including myself, inside our clothes,' Laura said. 

'Three out of us four girls were sexually assaulted. A friend had her breasts groped and her buttocks touched. [The men] put their hands in my pants. It went very far.'

Laura Barbier (right), 20, a student from Liege, in Belgium, had travelled to Milan, Italy , with five friends aged between 20 and 21 to celebrate the New Year

'Three out of us four girls were sexually assaulted. A friend had her breasts groped and her buttocks touched. [The men] put their hands in my pants. It went very far,' Laura told Belgian broadcaster RTL

While her two male friends tried to defend them, there was nothing they could do as the mob of men aged between 20 and 40 stood so close it was 'impossible' to move, Laura said. 

She added that even hitting and kicking the attackers, as well as shouting for help, did not work. 'We were powerless,' she said.

Laura said she was finally saved by an Italian man whose wife had also been attacked. 

But when Laura and her friends went to the local police to report the sex attacks, they were told that 'it would be useless' before being sent away, the Belgian student claims. 

Laura, who has since been receiving psychological counselling over her ordeal at a hospital back in Belgium, said she wanted to speak up to stop similar attacks from happening to other young women. 

She told RTL: 'I can't let this happen like this. I thought it only happened in the movies. I can't keep quiet.'

The attack has been compared to the scenes from New Year's Eve in Cologne at the end of 2015 when hundreds of women were sexually assaulted, harassed, and robbed during celebrations near the city's main train station and iconic cathedral.

The group of four young women and two men watched the fireworks on the Piazza del Duomo outside Milan's cathedral, where men wearing balaclavas were filmed causing chaotic scenes by shooting fireworks into the crowd on the same night

Footage from New Year's Eve of the Piazza del Duomo shows chaotic scenes

The Cologne situation caused particular outrage after Cologne police insisted that there had been no significant problems, before the real scale of the attacks was revealed in local media reports. 

Over 1,200 criminal complaints were filed, including over 500 allegations of sexual assault.

The attacks in Germany were carried out by large groups of men of North African and Arab descent.

In Milan, the city's Piazza del Duomo was also the scene of sexual assaults on New Year's Eve in 2021.

Police then identified 15 young men and three boys, aged 15 to 21, who were foreigners of North-African origin.

Through surveillance images, witness testimony and social media tracking, police were able to piece together 'three different episodes of violence' committed against nine young women that night.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14263585/Italian-cops-investigate-New-Years-Eve-sex-attacks-Milan.html

Italian police investigating New Year's Eve 2021 sex attacks on at least nine women in Milan carried out raids  after 18 suspects were identified. Pictured: Hoodlums light flares as they celebrate New Year's Eve in Milan's Piazza del Duomo square, December 31, 2021

Italian Carabinieri officers in riot gear keep watch during New Year's Eve celebrations in Piazza del Duomo square (or Cathedral Square) in Milan, northern Italy, 31 December 2021

Crowds gather outside Cologne Main Station in Cologne on 31 December 2015 - on a night when around 1,200 women were raped, sexually assaulted or robbed

An Italian girl, aged 14, was raped by a 40-year-old Pakistani man in the Casanova district in the northern Italian city of Bolzano 

A 28-year-old man from Bangladesh raped a 10-year old girl in San Colombano di Collio, Brescia, in the northern Italian region of Lombardy

A German girl, only named by the pseudonym Sina, was raped by Afghan migrants Sayed Sajad H., 23, and Rames H., 22, in the Sossenheim district of Frankfurt two days after her 18th birthday (pictured above: the Kollmann-Weiher pond where Sina was raped)

Three years after the shocking rape, Sina testified against her attackers in court, who just smiled at her from the dock when she talked about her ordeal (pictured: Wiesbaden district court, where the trial was held)

Prime Minister Meloni admitted that illegal immigrants are responsible for the higher incidence of rape in Italy