Cecilia Sala, 29, was arrested on Dec. 19, according to Italy’s foreign ministry, but her arrest was only made public on Friday.

Cecilia Sala, an Italian journalist who had been arrested in Tehran and jailed for three weeks, was freed and sent back to Italy, according to a statement by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's office.

An Italian journalist detained in Iran for three weeks was freed Wednesday and returned home, after her fate had become intertwined with that of an Iranian engineer arrested in Italy and wanted by the United States.

Cecilia Sala, 29, was detained last month while on a reporting trip. She had been held for 20 days and told her family that she was kept in isolation.

The case of an Italian journalist being held in Iran is "complicated", but Rome hopes to bring 29-year-old Cecilia Sala home quickly, Italy's foreign minister said on Saturday.

Italian journalist Cecilia Sala arrives in Rome after she was released from three weeks' detention in Iran

A plane carrying the 29-year-old landed at Rome’s Ciampino airport on Wednesday. Her overjoyed parents and partner were on hand to welcome her back, as were the prime minister, the foreign minister, and the mayor of Rome.

After more than three weeks of detention, Cecilia Sala has been released from Tehran's Evin Prison and was met at the airport in Rome by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

After Italian prime minister’s visit to Trump’s Florida resort, a journalist is suddenly freed from an Iranian prison. Is there a correlation, and does Giorgia Meloni have the president-elect’s ear?

Rather, she said, Trump's comments were “a message to some other big global players more than any hostile claim over these countries.”

The Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, arrested on December 19 in Iran, was released and repatriated, the Italian government announced. She was arrested for “violating the laws” of the Islamic Republic.