ROME — Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was freed by Iran on Wednesday (Jan 8) and returned home, three weeks after she was detained in Tehran during a reporting trip.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani were on hand to greet the 29-year-old as she flew back into Rome, highlighting the political importance attached to her case.

Sala, a writer and podcaster, had been working with a regular journalist visa when she was detained in Tehran on Dec 19, accused of "violating the laws of the Islamic Republic".

She was held three days after Iranian businessman Mohammad Abedini was arrested in Milan on a US warrant for allegedly supplying drone parts that Washington says were used in a 2024 attack that killed three US service members in Jordan.

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