STORY: An Italian journalist who was detained in Iran for three weeks returned home on Wednesday. Cecilia Sala was greeted at the airport in Rome by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.Sala is a writer and podcaster who had been working with a regular journalist visa in Tehran,

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.

After more than three weeks of detention, Cecilia Sala has been released from Tehran's Evin Prison and was met at the airport in Rome by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

By Crispian Balmer ROME (Reuters) -Italian reporter Cecilia Sala has been freed after three weeks in an Iranian prison and is flying home, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's office said on Wednesday. Sala,

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

ROME—Iran released Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, whose arrest in Tehran last month had sparked fears of a lengthy hostage crisis—a win for Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni that however highlights Western countries’ vulnerability to blackmail by authoritarian regimes.

Italian journalist Cecilia Sala had an emotional reunion with her boyfriend and her parents when she arrived in Italy after being released from detention in Iran. She was also welcomed back by Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni.