Italian journalist detained by police while reporting in Iran

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00:00I'm back in Iran, the place where I wanted to come back the most.

00:04This is Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, just days before her arrest, reporting out in the

00:09streets of Tehran.

00:11Hundreds of thousands of women are not veiled anymore, despite the law which says that they

00:16should, and they're not afraid that a foreigner like me is taking photographs of them.

00:21Sala was due to fly back to Rome on the 20th of December, but she never showed up at the

00:26airport.

00:27She has been in detention for more than a week, and held in solitary confinement at

00:31the notorious Evin prison.

00:34She was working as a podcaster with Quora Media and the Italian daily newspaper Il Folio.

00:39The paper's editor said she was on a journalist visa, and not undercover.

00:46What we know about Cecilia Sala is that she is doing well, as well as you can in isolation

00:51in an Iranian prison, which is one of the worst places in the world where a journalist

00:55can be imprisoned.

00:57In Iran, freedom is a crime, journalism is a crime, and the two things put together have

01:02produced what we have seen.

01:06It's reported that negotiations have been taking place over the last few days to secure

01:10her release.

01:12The Italian ambassador visited Sala in prison on Friday, and Italy's foreign minister said

01:16she was in good health.

01:19Iran has arrested many journalists with Western links over the years.

01:23The organisation Reporters Without Borders ranks the country among the worst in terms

01:28of press freedom.

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