Italy has released the Iranian engineer Mohammed Abedini, who had been in prison since December 16 due to an arrest warrant issued by the United States, which accused him of exporting electronic components to Iran for the manufacture of drones. In Italy he was not accused of any crime and was only in prison at the request of the American justice system, which had requested his extradition under the treaties in force between both countries. This Sunday, the Minister of Justice, Giancarlo Nordio, requested that the precautionary measure of imprisonment against the Iranian be lifted and that his surrender to the United States not be granted, for which he was immediately released. Tehran had demanded his release in exchange for the freedom of the Italian journalist Cecilia Sala.
According to the Italian news agency ANSA, the man headed to Iran as soon as he left Milan prison, even though he was residing in Switzerland at the time of his arrest. Her case was linked to that of reporter Sala, who had been imprisoned in Tehran with the generic accusation of “violating the laws of the Islamic Republic” and who was released a few days ago. According to the media, Abedini’s release now seems to confirm the prisoner exchange hypothesis. Analysts maintained that Iran had arrested the journalist to pressure Rome to obtain the release of the Iranian citizen.
Sala was detained in Iran, directly at her hotel, on December 19, shortly after Abedini was arrested at a Milan airport, and was released this past Wednesday. While she was detained, the Iranian ambassador to Italy, Mohammad Reza Sabouri, openly linked Sala’s case to that of Abedini, after the Italian press had been talking for several days about a possible connection between the two arrests. And he made it clear that the treatment that the Italian would receive in prison in Iran depended directly on the treatment that the Iranian would receive in prison in Italy. Despite the fact that at that time Sala was held in Evin prison – known for being the place of confinement of dissidents of the ayatollah regime and for the torture that has been documented inside – in an isolation cell in harsh conditions and without formal charges: he slept on the floor, with the light always on, and he was only allowed a few brief phone calls and a single visit from the Italian ambassador to Iran, Paola Amadei. Instead, Abedini was in an easily accessible prison, where he was being held in better conditions, and had met several times with his lawyer and some Iranian diplomats.
The Italian Government and in particular the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, have avoided offering more details about how the journalist’s release was managed, “to guarantee the safety of the 500 or 600 Italians in Iran”, despite insistent requests. questions from the media and that the opposition asked the head of the Executive to give explanations in Parliament. The leader of the Brothers of Italy recently traveled to the United States by surprise, to meet with the next president, Donald Trump, at his residence in Florida. Although the content of the meeting has not been revealed, several American and Italian media outlets indicated that the case of Cecilia Sala’s detention was discussed during the meeting.
Abedini was waiting in prison for his house arrest request to be resolved next week and for a judge to make a decision on his extradition to the United States, which wanted him for allegedly selling out to the Iranian Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, considered an terrorist by Washington, sensitive American technology for the manufacture of drones, such as those used in the attack in Jordan in which three American soldiers died last year.
To speed up the times and prevent the decision from being left solely in the hands of the judges, the Minister of Justice has intervened, since Italian laws allow him to request the revocation of the precautionary measures imposed on a person awaiting extradition. Nordio has denied an exchange of prisoners and through a statement has alleged that the Iranian was accused of crimes that do not appear in the Italian penal code, since to grant extradition, the crime in question must be contemplated by both countries.
Minister Nordio has indicated that in light of the accusations of “conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization resulting in death” and “supply and attempted supply of material support to a foreign terrorist organization resulting in death”, the Italian justice He has not found “any element that substantiates the accusations made” and has specified that “only production and trade with his country have emerged with certainty.” Furthermore, Italy and the European Union do not consider the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization, unlike the United States.
