Iran confirms arresting Italian journalist Cecilia Sala

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Tehran confirmed Monday that an Italian journalist has been arrested on charges of violating the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran, state media reported. The country’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, which oversees media activity, said in a statement that Cecilia Sala traveled to Iran on Dec. 13 on a journalist visa and was arrested six days later, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. On Friday, Italy’s foreign ministry said the Iranian police detained Sala in the Iranian capital on Dec. 19, while she was working with Iranian authorities “to clarify the legal situation of Sala and to verify the conditions of her detention.” Sala is a reporter for the Italian daily Il Foglio, which said she is being held in Tehran’s Evin prison. Il Foglio said Sala was in Iran on a regular visa “to report on a country she knows and loves.” Since the 1979 U.S. 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. Without attribution, Italian daily Corriere della Sera said Iran’s vice foreign minister had implied such a swap to the Italian ambassador to Iran, Paola Amadei.