An Italian journalist detained in Iran last month has been freed and is on a flight back to Rome, the Italian government says. Cecilia Sala, 29, was arrested on 19 December, 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.

Italian journalist Cecilia Sala has been released from Iran’s Evin prison after over three weeks in detention, according to a statement from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office on Wednesday. Sala, a reporter for Il Foglio, was arrested on December 19 while on a journalistic visa in Tehran.

An Italian journalist detained in Iran for three weeks has been freed and has returned home, after her fate had become intertwined with that of an Iranian engineer arrested in Italy and wanted by the

Italian journalist and podcaster Cecilia Sala has been freed from detention in an Iranian prison, Italy’s government has confirmed. The office of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said she is on a flight back to Italy,

Cecilia Sala, 29, was detained last month while on a reporting trip. She had been held for 20 days and told her family that she was kept in isolation.

The Italian journalist returned to Rome on Wednesday after weeks of diplomatic wrangling between Italy and Iran.

Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, arrested in Iran three weeks ago, was released on Wednesday, the Italian government has announced. Sala, 29, who works for Italian newspaper Il Foglio and the Chora Media podcast company, was arrested on December 19, for allegedly "violating the laws of the Islamic Republic."

Italian journalist Cecilia Sala arrives in Rome after she was released from three weeks' detention in Iran.