Italian journalist Cecilia Sala has returned home, having been released from prison in Iran

An Italian journalist has returned to Rome after spending several weeks in an Iranian prison.

Cecilia Sala, 29, was arrested on December 19, three days after Italian authorities arrested an Iranian engineer in Milan on suspicion of supplying the drone technology that led to the deaths of US soldiers.

According to reports, he was held in solitary confinement in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.

He was greeted by his partner as he disembarked at Rome’s Ciampino airport, before being welcomed home by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who was understood to have taken personal responsibility for his case.

The arrest of Cecilia Sala in a Tehran prison angered Italians and has dominated the headlines since her employer, Chora Media, reported the arrest on 27 December.

He published Photo of Sala arriving on Wednesday evening.

Iran initially said it had arrested Sala for “violating the laws of the Islamic Republic”, however US State Department officials said he may be linked to the arrest of Iranian national Mohammad Abedini on December 16 at Milan’s Malpensa airport.

He was arrested on a US warrant and an official told Italian media that Sala was being used as “political leverage”.

It is unclear what led to Iran’s release, but the news was announced in a statement by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who cited “intense work through diplomatic and intelligence channels.”

Meloni met with US President-elect Donald Trump over the weekend to discuss the journalist’s arrest.

Outgoing President Joe Biden will visit Rome this week.

Meloni thanked “everyone who helped make Zezila’s return possible.”

Sala’s partner, journalist Daniele Raineri, told the Ansa news agency: “I spoke to him and he said ‘I’ll see you soon’, he was excited and happy.”

Mohammad Abedini is due to go on trial in Milan on January 15, and in recent days Tehran has denied any connection between the two cases.

The head of Italy’s foreign intelligence service, Giovanni Caravelli, is said to have personally traveled to Tehran to bring Sala back to Italy.

His father Renato Sala told Ansari that he was proud and praised the government for its “exceptional work”.

He said that he had the impression that the situation had become “a chess match, but with more than two players”.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani also thanked Renato Sala, noting that they lived next to each other for 12 years and became friends.