Italian journalist Cecilia Sala detained by police while reporting in Iran

ROME — An Italian journalist who was reporting in Tehran has been detained by the Iranian police, Italy’s foreign ministry said in a statement Friday. Cecilia Sala was reporting in the Iranian capital when she was detained on Dec. 19, the ministry said, adding that it 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 Italian daily Il Foglio, which said she is being held in Tehran’s Evin prison. Il Foglio said Sala was in Iran with a regular visa “to report on a country she knows and loves.” The newspaper’s editor, Claudio Cerasa, wrote on Friday that “journalism is not a crime,” asking to “bring Cecilia Sala home.” Sala had been allowed to make two phone calls to her relatives, the foreign ministry said. Italian Ambassador Paola Amadei visited Sala in prison Friday, and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the journalist was “in good health condition.” Iran has not acknowledged detaining Sala.