ITALY summoned Iran’s ambassador today to demand the immediate release of an Italian journalist detained in Tehran, as the government and opposition ramped up public pressure over the politically sensitive case.

Cecilia Sala, a reporter for the Il Foglio daily newspaper, was detained in Tehran on December 19, six days after arriving on a journalist’s visa.

Tehran confirmed on Monday that Ms Sala had been arrested on charges of violating the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

The Italian Foreign Ministry said it had summoned Iranian ambassador Mohammad Reza Sabouri to demand her release and to ensure “dignified detention conditions in full respect of human rights,” including consular access and visitations.

Italy’s opposition Democratic Party also demanded Ms Sala’s immediate release, citing Italian media reports about a phone call in which she told her family that she was sleeping on the floor and had not received a second package of personal items from the embassy.

“The news of her conditions of detention are alarming,” the Democrats said in a statement. “The inhuman treatment she is undergoing is unacceptable.”

Ms Sala’s case has dominated Italian headlines for days and even featured in President Sergio Mattarella’s end-of-year speech to the nation.

Complicating matters are indications that Ms Sala’s fate has become intertwined with that of an Iranian man detained in Italy on December 16.

Mohammad Abedini-Najafabad was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport on a US warrant accusing him of involvement in a drone attack in Jordan that killed three US troops on January 28 last year.

US federal prosecutors have charged Mr Abedini and a co-defendant with export control violations after FBI specialists analysed the drone navigation system used in the Jordan attack and traced it to them.

The US Justice Department declined to comment on whether there was a link between the Sala case and its drone investigation.

Mr Abedini’s Italian lawyer, Alfredo De Francesco, asked the Milan court this week to grant him house arrest, a decision that is pending, Mr De Francesco said in an email. He declined to respond when asked to comment on the US charges or possible links to the Sala case.

Italian media has reported that Ms Sala is essentially being used as a bargaining chip by Iran to secure Mr Abedini’s release. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani didn’t dispute that suggestion when he was asked about it during a call-in to the Rete 4 television channel on Sunday.