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Cecilia Sala
Sala in 2023
Born	(1995-07-26) 26 July 1995 (age 29) Rome, Italy
Education	L.S.S. Camillo Cavour Bocconi University La Sapienza University
Occupations	journalist author war correspondent
Years active	2015–present
Employer	Il Foglio (2019–present)

Cecilia Sala (Italian: [tʃeˈtʃiːlja ˈsaːla]; born 26 July 1995) is an Italian journalist, specialized in political and war journalism, both as author and war correspondent.

Biography

Sala was born on 26 July 1995 in Rome. Her father is Renato Sala, a JP Morgan's senior advisor since 2004 and an independent director of the Italian bank Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena since 2023; her mother is Elisabetta Vernoni, a manager and environmental activist.

She graduated from the Liceo scientifico statale Camillo Cavour in Rome. From 2014 to 2018, she attended the bachelor's program in economics at the Luigi Bocconi University in Milan, without completing the degree, as she moved back to Rome for work reasons and enrolled at La Sapienza University.

In 2015, she started working as a correspondent and reporter for Vice, then as a journalist for the La7 TV program Servizio pubblico [it] in 2016. She later wrote for L'Espresso and Vanity Fair, among others, and she also worked for RAI, Fremantle Media and the La7 TV program Otto e mezzo [it].

In 2019, she registered with the Italian Order of Journalists of Lazio, officially becoming a professional journalist [it] per Italian law. Since 2019, Sala works for Il Foglio; she's also author for the Huffington Post, Mondadori, and the podcast company Chora Media.

Working for Il Foglio, she reported as foreign correspondent from Venezuela and Chile, among others, as well as war correspondent from Afghanistan (2021 Taliban offensive) and Ukraine (Russo-Ukrainian War). She also reported from Iran, both before and during the 2024 Iran–Israel conflict.

Prisoner exchange between Italy and Iran

On 19 December 2024, while in Iran on a journalist visa, she was arrested in Tehran and put in solitary confinement in Evin Prison. This became known only on 27 December. On 30 December, Iran's Ministry of Culture finally confirmed that they had arrested her for violating the laws of the Islamic Republic.

Her arrest came three days after Italy arrested Iranian engineer Mohammad Abedini Najafabadi at Milan Malpensa Airport at the request of the United States, which accused him, together with an accomplice arrested in the country, of conspiring to circumvent embargoes and supplying sophisticated electronic components from the United States to Iran. Abedini is also accused of giving material support to Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps—designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States—allegedly contributing to a drone attack on a US military base in Jordan that killed three U.S. Army Reserve soldiers and injured 47 others.

On 3 January 2025, Iran reportedly asked for a prisoner swap. On 8 January 2025, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced that Sala had been released by Iranian authorities and had left the country, later landing at Rome Ciampino Airport in the afternoon of the same day. Meloni cited a triangulation between US, Italy, and Iran helped for her to be released while denying Elon Musk being involved. Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei also denied Musk's involvement. Cecilia's boyfriend had made contact with Elon Musk, who claimed did not contact Iranians but played only small role and recommended US support.

On 12 January, Abedini was released back to Iran.

See also

• List of foreign nationals detained in Iran

References

1. ^ "Cecilia Sala in redazione al 'Foglio'". Prima Online (in Italian). 1 April 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
2. "Renato Sala". Banca MPS. Archived from the original on 1 January 2025. Retrieved 3 January 2025. Independent Director pursuant to the combined provisions of the By-Laws, Ministerial Decree 169/2020, Italian Legislative Decree 58/1998 (Consolidated Law on Finance) and the Corporate Governance Code
3. "Chi è Elisabetta Vernoni, la madre di Cecilia Sala: "Faccio il soldato, come lei"". Quotidiano Nazionale (in Italian). 3 January 2025. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
4. Tintoria #129 Cecilia Sala (con Stefano Rapone) on YouTube
5. "CV – Cecilia Sala (nov '22)" (PDF) (in Italian). University of Bologna (published 2023). November 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
6. ^ "Un giornalismo in movimento, tra reportage all'estero e Polvere – con Cecilia Sala (S02 E05)". Giornalisti al Microfono (in Italian). 3 December 2020. Archived from the original on 27 December 2024. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
7. "Cecilia Sala". Giffoni Experience. Archived from the original on 30 December 2024. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
8. "Albo Unico dell'Ordine dei Giornalisti". Ordine dei Giornalisti. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
9. National Council of the Order of Journalists. "Law No. 69 of February 3, 1963 Regulation of the Journalistic Profession" (PDF). Retrieved 11 January 2025. CHAPTER III ON THE PRACTICE OF THE JOURNALISTIC PROFESSION Article 45. Practice of the profession: No one may assume the title or practice the profession of journalist unless they are registered in the list of professionals or that of publicists in the register established by the competent Regional or Interregional Order. Violation of the provision in the first sentence is punishable under Articles 348 and 498 of the Penal Code, unless the act constitutes a more serious offense (3). (3) The Constitutional Court, with its judgment of March 21–23, 1968, no. 11 (published in the Official Gazette, First Special Series, March 30, 1968, no. 84), declared "the constitutional illegitimacy of Article 45 of Law no. 69 of February 3, 1963, concerning the regulation of the journalistic profession, limited to its applicability to foreigners who are prevented in their home country from effectively exercising the democratic freedoms guaranteed by the Italian Constitution."
10. ^ "Chi è Cecilia Sala, genitori, compagno, anni, carriera e libri della giornalista arrestata in Iran mentre girava il podcast Stories". Il Giornale d'Italia (in Italian). 27 December 2024. Archived from the original on 27 December 2024. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
11. Bubola, Emma (18 January 2025). "Italian Reporter's Ordeal in Iranian Prison: 'I Was Trapped in a Game'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
12. Bubola, Emma (27 December 2024). "Italian Journalist Is Detained While Reporting in Iran". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
13. Tondo, Lorenzo (27 December 2024). "Italian journalist arrested and held in solitary confinement in Iran". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
14. "Iran confirms arrest of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala". Al Arabiya English. 30 December 2024. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
15. "Mohammad Abedini Najafabadi, chiesti arresti domiciliari per iraniano fermato a Malpensa" [Mohammad Abedini Najafabadi, house arrest requested for Iranian stopped at Malpensa airport]. Sky Italia. 30 December 2024.
16. ^ Raymond, Nate (27 December 2024). Nickel, Rod (ed.). "Engineer pleads not guilty in US case over deadly Iran-linked drone strike". Reuters. Boston. Archived from the original on 5 January 2025. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
17. ^ Office of Public Affairs (16 December 2024). "Founder of Iranian Company Arrested for Providing Material Support to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and for Scheme to Procure Sensitive U.S. Technology for Use in IRGC Military Drones, One of Which Killed Three U.S. Servicemembers". justice.gov. United States Department of Justice. Archived from the original on 30 December 2024. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
18. "Italy-Iran diplomatic tangle escalates over detained citizens as US seeks man over drone attack". Washington Post. 2 January 2025. Archived from the original on 3 January 2025. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
19. Winfield, Nicole; Karimi, Nasser (3 January 2025). "Iran warns Italy that bilateral ties at risk if it bows to 'hostile' US demands over drone suspect". Associated Press. Tehran, Iran. Archived from the original on 5 January 2025. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
20. Alavi, Shahed (3 January 2025). "Iran tells Italy it seeks prisoner swap for jailed Italian journalist". Iran International.
21. "Italian journalist Cecilia Sala freed from detention in Iran, Italian PM's office says". CNN. 8 January 2025.
22. Bubola, Emma (8 January 2025). "Italian Journalist Released by Iran". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
23. Giuffrida, Angela (8 January 2025). "Italian journalist Cecilia Sala returns home after release from prison in Iran". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
24. "Italian PM says unaware of any Musk role in journalist's release from Iran". 9 January 2025. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
25. "'Triangulation' with US, Iran on Sala says Meloni". Ansa.it. TopNews. 9 January 2025. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
26. "L'Iran, Musk non ha un ruolo nel rilascio di Cecilia Sala" (in Italian). 16 January 2025. Retrieved 21 January 2025.
27. Chowdhury, Shamim (20 January 2025). "Cecilia Sala, Boyfriend's Contact with Musk 'Fundamental' to Iran Release". Newsweek. Retrieved 21 January 2025.
28. Seamons, Kate. "Italian Journalist Freed From Iran Credits Elon Musk". MSN. Retrieved 21 January 2025.
29. Zampano, Giada (12 January 2025). "Italy's justice minister seeks to revoke the arrest of an Iranian based on a US warrant". ABC News. Retrieved 12 January 2025.

v t e List of foreign nationals detained in Iran
United States	Citizens Saeed Abedini Shane Bauer Haleh Esfandiari Joshua Fattal Gerald F. Seib Amir Hekmati Moorhead C. Kennedy Jr. Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari Bruce Laingen Robert Levinson John Limbert Esha Momeni Baquer Namazi Siamak Namazi Jon Pattis Richard Queen David Rabhan Jason Rezaian Barry Rosen Roxana Saberi Ali Shakeri Emad Shargi Sarah Shourd Morad Tahbaz Kian Tajbakhsh Victor L. Tomseth Matthew Trevithick Karan Vafadari Xiyue Wang Michael White Residents Afarin Neyssari Afshin Sheikholeslami Vatani
Canada	Citizens Maziar Bahari Hossein Derakhshan Abdolrasoul Dorri-Esfahani Hamid Ghassemi-Shall Homa Hoodfar Zahra Kazemi Ramin Jahanbegloo Kavous Seyed-Emami Residents Saeed Malekpour
United Kingdom	Citizens Kameel Ahmady Anoosheh Ashoori Iason Athanasiadis Roger Cooper Abbas Edalat Kamal Foroughi Ghoncheh Ghavami Roya Saberi Negad Nobakht Nahid Taghavi Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe Residents Aras Amiri
France	Citizens Louis Arnaud Cécile Kohler Fariba Adelkhah Nazak Afshar Benjamin Brière Roland Marchal Clotilde Reiss Residents Ruhollah Zam
Sweden	Habib Chaab Johan Floderus Ahmad Reza Jalali
Germany	Marcus Hellwig Helmut Hofer Jens Koch Jamshid Sharmahd Nahid Taghavi Helmut Szimkus
Australia	Mark Firkin Jolie King Kylie Moore-Gilbert
Austria	Kamran Ghaderi
Belgium	Olivier Vandecasteele
Netherlands	Zahra Bahrami
Finland	Ana Diamond
Lebanon	Nizar Zakka
New Zealand	Topher Richwhite Bridget Thackwray
Russian	Yulia Yuzik
Italy	Cecilia Sala
Category:Foreign nationals imprisoned in Iran

v t e Political prisoners in Iran
Prison
Activists	Habib Afkari Raheleh Ahmadi Maryam Akbari Monfared Zahra Bahrami Emad Bahavar Esmail Bakhshi Mahmudali Chehregani Atena Daemi Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee Amir Abbas Fakhravar Alireza Farshi Parvaneh Forouhar Ali-Asghar Gharavi Kouhyar Goudarzi Zeynab Jalalian Vida Hajebi Tabrizi Saeed Hajjarian Leila Hosseinzadeh Soheila Hejab Jafar Kazemi Amir Khorram Amir Khosrow Dalirsani Dhabihu'llah Mahrami Mohammad Maleki Azar Mansouri Farideh Mashini Mohsen Mirdamadi Ahmad Moftizadeh Narges Mohammadi Abdollah Momeni Youcef Nadarkhani Shiva Nazar Ahari Keyvan Rafiee Alireza Rajaei Arash Sadeghi Mahan Sadrat Fatemeh Sepehri Kavous Seyed-Emami Reza Shahabi Jamshid Sharmahd Ghasem Sholeh-Saadi Abbas Lisani Ali Shariati Majid Tavakoli Habibollah Peyman Sayed Ziaoddin Nabavi
Actors	Taraneh Alidoosti Hengameh Ghaziani Katayoun Riahi
Artists	Atena Farghadani Amir Emad Mirmirani
Athletes	Voria Ghafouri Ali Akbar Heidari Mohammad Karimi Hossein Mahini Amir Reza Nasr Azadani Navid Afkari
Bloggers	Soheil Arabi Sattar Beheshti
Doctors	Nasser Fahimi Gholam-Hossein Sa'edi Mohammad Ali Taheri
Filmmakers	Keywan Karimi Jafar Panahi Mahnaz Mohammadi Mohammad Nourizad Hossein Rajabian Mohammad Rasoulof
Journalists	Bahman Ahmadi Amouee Mahsa Amrabadi Ahmad Batebi Masoud Bastani Abdolali Bazargan Mohammad Ghouchani Niloofar Hamedi Adnan Hassanpour Zahra Kazemi Masoud Lavasani Saeed Laylaz Elaheh Mohammadi Sam Mahmoudi Said Matinpour Kasra Nouri Siamak Pourzand Hossein Rafiee Taghi Rahmani Roxana Saberi Majid Saeedi Cecilia Sala Faraj Sarkohi Kianush Sanjari Mohsen Sazegara Mohammad Seddigh Kaboudvand Hengameh Shahidi Mashallah Shamsolvaezin Heshmat Tabarzadi Roya Toloui Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe Ruhollah Zam Ahmad Zeidabadi
Lawyers	Mohammad Ali Dadkhah Saleh Kamrani Nasrin Sotoudeh Shadi Sadr Mohammad Seifzadeh Abdolfattah Soltani
Military	Amir Farshad Ebrahimi Saeed Emami Akbar Ganji Hamid Pourmand
Musicians	Dariush Eghbali Shervin Hajipour Mehdi Rajabian Toomaj Salehi Mehdi Yarrahi
Programmer	Amir Emad Mirmirani
Poets	Baktash Abtin MohammadReza Alee Payam Mona Borzouei Piruz Dilanchi Mehdi Akhavan-Sales Mohammad-Taqi Bahar Keramat Daneshian Arzhang Davoodi Mohammad Farrokhi Yazdi Khosrow Golsorkhi Morteza Keyvan Ahmad Shamlou Sedigheh Vasmaghi
Politicians	Mohsen Aminzadeh Morteza Alviri Shahrbanoo Amani Abbas Amir-Entezam Mohsen Armin Mohammad Atrianfar Seyyed Ebrahim Amini Emadeddin Baghi Jila Baniyaghoob Mehdi Bazargan Nasrollah Entezam Iraj Eskandari Hossein Fatemi Dariush Forouhar Sadegh Ghotbzadeh Mehdi Hajati Bahareh Hedayat Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani Amir Hossein Heshmat Saran Amir-Abbas Hoveyda Anvar Khamei Mohammad-Reza Khatami Khalil Maleki Mir-Hossein Mousavi Ali-Akbar Mousavi Khoeini Farajollah Mizani Ahmad Moftizadeh Behzad Nabavi Abdollah Nouri Reza Radmanesh Abdollah Ramezanzadeh Gholam Hossein Sadighi Abolghasem Sarhaddizadeh Ali Shakouri-Rad Ali Shariati Mahdi Tajik Mostafa Tajzadeh Mansour Osanlou Ebrahim Yazdi
Scientists	Taqi Arani Ramin Jahanbegloo Omid Kokabee Seyed Hossein Mousavian Ehsan Tabari Kian Tajbakhsh
Writers	Ali Mohammad Afghani Bozorg Alavi Najaf Daryabandari Mahmoud Dowlatabadi Mahmoud Etemadzadeh Ahmad Mahmoud Abbas Milani Shahrokh Meskoob Fariborz Raisdana Ahmad Samii Gilani Brayim Younisi Kourosh Zaim Nasser Zarafshan Sadegh Zibakalam
Category:Political prisoners in Iran

• 21st-century Italian journalists
• 21st-century Italian women journalists
• 1995 births
• Bocconi University alumni
• Foreign nationals imprisoned in Iran
• Italian people imprisoned abroad
• Italian war correspondents
• Journalists from Rome
• Journalists imprisoned in Iran
• Living people