"PREVIEW: ITALY & IRAN: Colleague Lorenzo Fiori reports on the Meloni government's successful negotiations to free Italian journalist Cecilia Salal from Evin Prison and return her to Rome. More tonight."
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 10 January 2025
⏱️ 3 minutes
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1812 Palantine Hill Rome
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| 0:00.0 | This is John Batchelor. Chichilla Sala is free. She's home at Rome, the head of the Italian intelligence |
| 0:08.1 | service traveled to Tehran to negotiate the release Giovanni Caravelli. I learned from my good |
| 0:14.9 | colleague Lorenzo Fiore that all is well and that Chitia S Sal is healthy after spending several weeks in a solitary |
| 0:23.8 | confinement in the infamous urban prison in Tehran with no adequate cover. The light was always on to |
| 0:32.2 | torment her and deprive her of sleep. However, it is done. She's a young, extremely popular Italian journalist and podcaster. |
| 0:41.2 | Why she was abducted from the streets of Tehran remains unclear, but it presumably is collected to |
| 0:48.6 | the fact that Italy detained an Italian, an Iranian national, on a request by the United States to deport him, |
| 0:59.5 | Abadini is his name, to the United States for charges. However, this is hostage taking, and |
| 1:05.8 | Georgia Maloney, the Prime Minister of Italy, got involved right away, traveled to Mara Lago to talk to the |
| 1:12.5 | president-elect. We don't know all the details of the negotiation, but it also is true that the |
| 1:19.1 | foreign minister of Italy, Antonio Tajani, was involved in these negotiations. They were extremely |
| 1:26.1 | quiet about it. Sala is free. Chichilla Sala is free. |
| 1:32.2 | And the Iranian at the center of the story, I believe there's a lot of presumption here |
| 1:38.6 | because the details are not provided. He remains in Italy, Ahamad Abidini, and what happens next depends upon the courts. |
| 1:50.8 | More of this tonight. Here's Lorenzo to explain the joy. Well, let me tell you that Chechilia is |
| 1:59.6 | okay, and this is a very, very good news for all the Italians. |
| 2:03.5 | This time, I must admit, there is a sort of transversal, let's say, convergence that |
| 2:09.8 | the Sicilia release is a very good start of this year. |
| 2:14.4 | Chechilia is fine, apparently what I see from the picture and the video that were on the |
| 2:20.3 | TV and on newspaper, she has also a good, let's say, a good appearance. So I'm happy that she's now back to Rome with her family. You know that Chechilia father is also a good friend of mine. So I'm atop that for him. |
| 2:36.1 | And let me tell you if there is somebody to thank for her release, he's not only Georgian |
| 2:42.8 | Maloney, but another good friend of mine, the three-star general, Johnny Caravelli, |
... |
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