The Deputy Foreign Minister, Edmondo Cirielli, interviewed by “Republic“, explains the government’s moves to free Cecilia RoomItalian journalist detained in Iran. At Palazzo Chigi and at the Farnesina there is “cautious optimism” about the release of the reporter who, according to the deputy minister, could be released “in a reasonable time” even if not “very quickly”.
The minister manages the practice Anthony Tajani which is working through the Italian embassy and through “confidential channels”. As stated by Cirielli, the first objective is to understand the accusations that have not yet been made official: “We are first trying to understand what she is accused of”, he explains. “We imagine that there is some protocol violation related to his work as a journalist.”
The optimism on the part of the Foreign Ministry is due to the diplomatic history and relations that Italy can boast with Iran. “It is an optimism based on the ability, not only of the current government, to relate to Tehran,” he explains. So to free the Hall the government will play “on the differences in legal systems” and will use “the fact that in the West we are those who have better relations with Iran“. However, it is better not to raise the tone of the controversy against the ayatollahs at the moment: “Now we must not have an aggressive, superior attitude: diplomatic negotiations are done with respect, in low tones. We will not be able to say: he did nothing for us, if Iranian laws say different things. We must leverage these differences, to say: have an understanding attitude.”
Regarding the arrest of the Iranian citizen at Malpensa, many believe that Sala’s arrest could be a complete retaliation. Mohammad Abedini Najafabadi he arrived from Istanbul and there was a United States arrest warrant hanging over him on charges of having trafficked drone components to Tehran, weapons that would then be used in an attack against US forces. Cirielli denies that there is a correlation directly with the Sala case. Despite the accusation of espionage against the Iranian, the deputy minister invites us to tread carefully: “It’s one thing to rape or murder, it’s another to be accused of a crime that has an intrinsic subjective nature, as can be journalistic activity or indeed espionage. There is an evident subjective component, on which we must act with balance. Now the magistrates will do their job, with the Minister of Justice.” The news, however, is that there is a possibility that extradition will be denied.
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