Hostage Diplomacy
Hostage Diplomacy
The Method of Hostage Taking in Iran
According to Reporters Without Borders, at least 41 journalists are imprisoned in Iran, all of whom are Iranian. As of December 19, this number increased to at least 42 with the arrest of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala.
Cecilia Sala, in her podcasts for Chora Media, gave voice to women and their stories, the same women who have endured what human rights activists call gender apartheid for decades.
If there is a law that free journalism violates, it is the supreme law in authoritarian regimes: keeping people uninformed.
Any attempt to narrate what happens inside their countries is considered a threat to national security. However, there is another law that is entirely Iranian and needs to be explained: hostage-taking through arrest for unspecified and undeclared reasons or after justifying it with fabricated charges such as spying for the enemy or collusion against national security, based on which Western citizens or those with dual nationality become tools for exchange to achieve the goals and desires of the Iranian government.
It took six years, from April 2016 to March 2022, for British-Iranian citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to return home, and only when the London government agreed to repay a significant amount, nearly 400 million pounds, to the Tehran government, which had been prepaid by the Shah nearly half a century ago for the purchase of British weapons that never arrived because the Islamic Revolution in Iran occurred during that time.
Two days before returning home, Iranian authorities summoned Zaghari-Ratcliffe and explicitly told her she was to be exchanged for money.
It took less than a year in the same exchange for another Iranian citizen with a British passport, Anoosheh Ashoori, who had been arrested in 2017, to be released from prison.
On May 26, 2023, Iran and Belgium arranged another prisoner exchange. Iran released Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele, who was arrested in February 2022 and sentenced to 40 years in prison for espionage. In return, they received their diplomat Asadollah Assadi, who was sentenced to 20 years for terrorism.
On June 15, 2024, Hamid Nouri, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in Sweden in December 2023 for his role in the massacre of Iranian political prisoners in 1988, returned to Tehran victoriously. In this massacre, thousands of political prisoners were killed.
In exchange, Johan Floderus, an EU employee facing the threat of a death sentence or life imprisonment for espionage, and Saeed Azizi, who was sentenced to five years for collaborating against national security and was seriously ill, returned to Sweden.
Another hostage is Ahmadreza Djalali, an expert in emergency medicine with Swedish and Iranian nationality, who was a researcher at the University of Eastern Piedmont in Novara, Italy, and was arrested in 2016 and sentenced to death the following year for espionage in favor of Israel.
Cecilia Sala is now the new victim of this hostage policy. On December 16, Mohammad Abedini was arrested at Malpensa Airport in Milan for collaborating with the Revolutionary Guards.
The United States has requested his extradition on charges of providing material support for an Iranian drone attack that resulted in the death of three American military personnel in Jordan in January. On December 19, Cecilia Sala is arrested.
After more than a week of secret negotiations, the Italian government announced Cecilia Sala’s arrest on December 27, stating she is held in solitary confinement in Evin Prison but is in good physical condition.
This was refuted in a January 2 phone call from the detained journalist to her family, where she stated she had not received the package sent by the embassy to the prison management, sleeps on the floor, and has even been deprived of her glasses.
Cecilia’s family requested media silence.
Negotiations for the release of the Italian journalist, who has been in prison since December 19, continue.
Our parents are at a critical stage; there is a need for a sense of responsibility from everyone.
A hearing for the request for house arrest for the 38-year-old engineer arrested at Malpensa at the behest of the U.S. will be held on January 15. Tehran warned that Rome should reject America’s hostage policy, or the longstanding relations between our two countries will be damaged.
The family of Cecilia Sala, the journalist arrested in Iran and transferred to Evin Prison, has asked the media to maintain a news blackout. The situation is complex and very concerning, they wrote.
In an effort to bring her home, our government is making maximum efforts, and now, in addition to the efforts of Italian authorities, there is a need for more privacy and caution.
The request was immediately accepted, and political statements and reconstructions related to this affair have almost disappeared from the media.
Additionally, protests focusing on anti-Tehran sentiments were canceled, including those by radicals who decided to forgo the January 6 march in front of the Iranian embassy in Rome.
Meanwhile, negotiations for Sala’s release continue, while Iran warns Italy that Rome should reject America’s hostage policy and awaits the hearing for house arrest for Mohammad Abedini Najafabadi on January 15, who was arrested at Malpensa Airport in Milan three days before the journalist’s arrest at the behest of the U.S.
Critical Stage
In the family’s call, they stated: In these days, we have felt the love, attention, and solidarity of the people of Italy and the media world, and we are very grateful for all the actions being taken. However, the stage we have reached is very sensitive, and it is felt that extensive media discussion about what can or should be done may prolong the timelines and make solving the issue more complex and distant.
They continued: For this reason, we have decided to refrain from comments and statements and ask news agencies for media silence. We will be grateful for the sense of responsibility that each individual will show by accepting our request.
Nunzio in Iran, Rome is doing everything it can
Nunzio Apostolico in Iran has announced that Italian diplomatic and consular representatives in Tehran are doing everything they can and are using their diplomatic professionalism to secure the journalist’s release.
Archbishop Andrej Jozic told ANSA news site: I hope with the help of God and Jesus, Ms. Cecilia Sala will be released as soon as possible.
Nunzio Apostolico is the official title of a high-ranking diplomat appointed by the Pope, the leader of the Catholic Church, as a diplomatic representative in various countries.
Nunzio Apostolico plays a role similar to an ambassador but, in addition to political and diplomatic affairs, includes religious responsibilities and represents the church in host countries. In fact, Nunzio Apostolico acts as the Pope’s representative in non-Catholic countries or in countries with political and diplomatic relations with the Vatican.
Tehran: Rome should not follow U.S. requests
In Opera Prison, Abedini has asked his lawyer to write Cecilia Sala’s name on a piece of paper. I will pray for myself and for her. According to reports, a hearing for the house arrest request will be held in ten days, to which the Milan prosecutor’s office has given a negative opinion.
Even the U.S. judiciary wants him to remain in prison. Washington continues to pursue the extradition of the 38-year-old mechanical engineer accused of conspiracy and providing material support to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Yesterday, Paola Amadei, the Italian ambassador to Iran, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Tehran. Iran once again described Abedini’s arrest as illegal and aligned with hostile U.S. political objectives and expects Rome to reject America’s hostage policy and create conditions for the release of this Iranian citizen.
Otherwise, this issue will damage the longstanding relations between Iran and Italy, and Rome should not allow our bilateral relations to be weakened by the U.S. Ultimately, Iran demanded the immediate release of Abedini.
Political leaders in Palazzo Chigi
The minimum outcome Italy seeks is to obtain respectful conditions for Sala with the aim of her immediate release.
And exactly yesterday, on January 3, an emergency meeting was held at Palazzo Chigi with the presence of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, Justice Minister Carlo Nordio, Deputy Minister Alfredo Mantovano, and intelligence services.
Palazzo Chigi is a historic palace in Rome, Italy, which is the official residence of the Italian Prime Minister, the President of the Council of Ministers.
In a note after the meeting, the government emphasized that equality in treatment for all prisoners is guaranteed according to Italian laws and international conventions. Negotiations with the United States are ongoing.
Sala’s mother, Elisabetta Vernoni, met with the President of the Council of Ministers and told her daughter: Try to be a soldier, Cecilia. I will try to be a soldier too.
But the prison conditions for a 29-year-old girl who has committed no crime should not be such that they affect her for life. Conditions should be such that a girl who is an honor for Italy is not affected.