Sala was born on 26 July 1995 in Rome.[1] Her father is Renato Sala, a JP Morgan's senior advisor since 2004 and an independent director of the Italian bank Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena since 2023;[2] her mother is Elisabetta Vernoni, a manager and environmental activist.[3]
On 19 December 2024, while in Iran on a journalist visa, she was arrested in Tehran and put in solitary confinement in Evin Prison.[11] This became known only on 27 December.[12][10] On 30 December, Iran's Ministry of Culture finally confirmed that they had arrested her for "violating the laws of the Islamic Republic".[13]
Her arrest came three days after Italy arrested Iranian engineer Mohammad Abedini Najafabadi at Milan Malpensa Airport at the request of the United States, which accused him, together with an accomplice arrested in the country, of conspiring to circumvent embargoes and supplying sophisticated electronic components from the United States to Iran.[14][15][16] Abedini is also accused of giving material support to Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps—designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States—allegedly contributing to a drone attack on a US military base in Jordan that killed three U.S. Army Reserve soldiers[15][16][17][18] and injured 47 others.[15][16]
On 3 January 2025, Iran reportedly asked for a prisoner swap.[19] On 8 January 2025, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced that Sala had been released by Iranian authorities and had left the country,[20] later landing at Rome Ciampino Airport in the afternoon of the same day.[21] Meloni cited a triangulation between US, Italy, and Iran helped for her to be released while denying Elon Musk being involved.[22][23] Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei also denied Musk's involvement.[24]
On 12 January, Abedini was released back to Iran.[25]
^"Renato Sala". Banca MPS. Archived from the original on 1 January 2025. Retrieved 3 January 2025. Independent Director pursuant to the combined provisions of the By-Laws, Ministerial Decree 169/2020, Italian Legislative Decree 58/1998 (Consolidated Law on Finance) and the Corporate Governance Code
^National Council of the Order of Journalists. "Law No. 69 of February 3, 1963 Regulation of the Journalistic Profession"(PDF). Retrieved 11 January 2025. CHAPTER III ON THE PRACTICE OF THE JOURNALISTIC PROFESSION Article 45. Practice of the profession: No one may assume the title or practice the profession of journalist unless they are registered in the list of professionals or that of publicists in the register established by the competent Regional or Interregional Order. Violation of the provision in the first sentence is punishable under Articles 348 and 498 of the Penal Code, unless the act constitutes a more serious offense (3). (3) The Constitutional Court, with its judgment of March 21–23, 1968, no. 11 (published in the Official Gazette, First Special Series, March 30, 1968, no. 84), declared "the constitutional illegitimacy of Article 45 of Law no. 69 of February 3, 1963, concerning the regulation of the journalistic profession, limited to its applicability to foreigners who are prevented in their home country from effectively exercising the democratic freedoms guaranteed by the Italian Constitution."
