Italian journalist Cecilia Sala has been released from Iran

An Italian journalist detained in Iran last month has been released and is on a flight back to Rome, the Italian government said.

Cecilia Sala, 29, was arrested on December 19, three days after an Iranian engineer was detained by Italian authorities in Milan on suspicion of supplying drone technology that led to the deaths of US soldiers.

Reports said she was being held in solitary confinement at Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.

It is not clear what led to Sala’s release, but the news was announced by Prime Minister Georgia Meloni’s staff, who cited “intense work through diplomatic and intelligence channels”.

In the Italian statement, Meloni thanked “all those who contributed to make Cecilia’s return possible”.

She personally told Sala’s parents about her release, it added. Salah’s plane had already left Tehran and was due to arrive in Rome at 15:30 (1430 GMT) on Wednesday, according to the Ansa news agency.

Her partner, fellow journalist Daniele Raineri, told Ansa: “I spoke to her and she said ‘See you soon’, she was emotional and happy.”

Cecilia Sala’s detention in a Tehran prison has outraged Italians and dominated headlines since her employer, podcast company Chora Media, broke the news of her arrest on December 27.

Meloni is understood to have taken up her case personally and met US President-elect Donald Trump at the weekend, when the journalist’s detention is believed to have been discussed.

Outgoing President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Rome later this week.

Iran initially said it detained Salah for “violating the laws of the Islamic Republic”, but US State Department officials said it may be related to the arrest of Iranian national Mohammad Abedini at Milan’s Malpensa airport on 16 December.

He was arrested on a US warrant and an official told Italian media that Sala was used as “political leverage”.

Mohammad Abedini is due to stand trial in Milan on January 15, and in recent days Tehran has played down any link between the two cases.

The head of Italian foreign intelligence, Giovanni Caravelli, personally traveled to Tehran to bring Sala back to Italy.

Her father, Renato Sala, told the Ansa news agency that he was proud of her and praised the government for its “exceptional work”.

He said he had the impression that the situation had become “a game of chess, but with more than two players”.