The news of these days is the arrest, which would better be called kidnapping, of the journalist Cecilia Sala. We know little about it, and it is one of those cases that reminds us – but we who are involved should never forget it – that words must be weighed, counted and measured out, also and above all because negotiations with Iran are needed for his release. . Cecilia Sala was arrested in Iran on December 19th, the day before the scheduled flight that was supposed to take her back to Italy. The official reasons for the arrest are still unknown, and it would only be motivated by a generic “violation of the laws of the Islamic republic”. A sudden detention not supported by formal charges is obviously incompatible with the right to defence, that is, with the minimum rules of a rule of law, which Iran is not, being a ferocious Shiite Islamist dictatorship with a theocratic foundation . The hypothesis quickly takes shape that Sala was arrested not because of her work, but because of her nationality, Italian. This is even confirmed by the US State Department, which explicitly links the fact to the arrest of Mohammed Abedini, which took place in Italy at the request of US justice on 16 December, reiterating the serious accusations made against the Iranian citizen. Who, through his Italian lawyer, declares himself unrelated to the trafficking of drones which would be used by the Iranian regime for acts of terrorism, including against American bases.

Extradition would complicate things

Now there are the judges of the Court of Appeal of Milan, competent for the territory since Abedini was arrested at Malpensa, who must decide on Abedini’s extradition, and who have in their hands the intertwined fate of two human beings and a whole tangle of diplomacy . Its function requires objectivity and total independence from politics, a topic that is not new to the Italian debate. Therefore, the extradition procedure requires that the final word still lies with the Ministry of Justice, which is unlikely to take any steps without Giorgia Meloni herself showing the way. We are talking about Carlo Nordio who is appointed by the majority to act as a symbol and implementer of a reform of the judiciary that the magistrates don’t like at all. A decision leading to extradition could significantly complicate the rapid and positive resolution of the case. On the one hand, the reasons for the requests for a strong ally, immediately before the imminent return to the White House of Donald Trump, a great political ally of Giorgia Meloni’s government, who sees Abedini as the supplier of killer drones to a government of assassins .

The negotiation

If the accusations made by the US are true, we are talking about a dangerous man and a sworn enemy of the much vaunted values ​​of the West. Of a man whose freedom and activity is a problem for Iranian women, for Western troops, and for Israel and the Saudis. On the other hand, there is the right to freedom of a young journalist, our fellow citizen, detained without any reason in the prisons of a country that does not respect any principle of legality. The dilemma, obviously, is basically the same one that arises every time an organization considered terrorist deprives an innocent person of freedom and then asks those in power to decide not on the basis of its principles, but of the necessary ends. to free oneself from blackmail by accepting it. In the history of our country, and not only, it has already happened that a debate like this has occurred. This is what was made explicit by an article published by the newspaper Il Domani, with the significant title: Sala-Abedini, Iran and Italy negotiate. The “no” card to extradition. Precisely because of Abedini’s arrest, Sala would have been stopped and arrested unjustly, beyond the somewhat self-satisfied rhetoric of us journalists who have staked everything on Iran’s – well-known – desire to limit freedom of expression, which however does not is the specific reason for this unjust and unjustified arrest. A no to extradition, played on the judiciary-politics axis, would simplify the negotiation. If the judges were to say no, they would certainly get the government out of the way, which – according to the law – could only take note of that refusal.

The differences with the marines

Faced with this very complicated and delicate tangle of personal issues, understandable anxieties, political and ethical tensions, it would be right for everyone to stop and not cultivate their own sad audiences. It would be good to avoid, from the right, accusing the left of sympathizing with Hamas which is supported and financed by the Iranian Pasdaran, or resurrecting tweets from ten years ago in which Cecilia Sala argued about the case of the marines (who however, unlike her, were not exactly accused “of nothing”).

It would be good, from the left, to avoid criticizing the difference in treatment given to Julian Assange at the time. We’ve read all this, and even worse. It would be good, however, for us all to stop for a moment and remind ourselves that, when firm principles of rigor are declaimed in times of peace, these can be put to the test in moments of fear and anguish. In my small and very personal pantheon of guides, there are the names of those who, often against the majority opinion of their time, believe that saving the life and freedom of innocents is always a duty, which allows them to deal with everyone, even the devil. This applies today to Cecilia Sala, who unfortunately sees notoriety as a double-edged sword on her side but also on the side of her kidnappers; and it always applies to the victims of similar injustices that we very often forget, because they are not our fellow citizens. To Cecilia, and to all of them, all that remains is to wish an end to the year that also brings the end of a nightmare closer.