Travel blogger arrested in Iran. Alessia Piperno on social media talks about the visa problem

The Farnesina is carrying out checks on the reasons for the arrest in Iran of the 30-year-old Roman Alessia Piperno, who yesterday called her family confirming that she is in a Tehran prison.

“In a few days my seventh year on the road will begin.

Yet when I look back, it feels like yesterday when I loaded my first backpack on my shoulders, to reach the land of my dreams, Australia.

At the time I had just turned 24, while today I am 30 ”.

So Alessia in her last post on Instagram before the arrest.

She was arrested while celebrating her birthday on September 28th.

This was revealed by her father, Alberto, who explained that from that day on he had no traces of her daughter until the phone call from her prison occurred four days after her arrest.

“They arrested me - she told her parents - I'm in a Tehran prison.

Please help me ».

The father, owner of a bookshop in the Tuscolano district of Rome, has received several certificates of solidarity for the affair.

Alessia Piperno's trip to Iran was one of many that the girl had been doing for seven years now, since she had decided to become a travel blogger with a good following on social media.

The Embassy of Italy in Tehran, in close connection with the Farnesina, is following the story of the arrest of Alessia Piperno which took place on 28 September by the Iranian police forces.

While the Representation is carrying out the necessary checks to shed light on the reasons, her parents were received yesterday at the Farnesina by the Director General of Italians Abroad, Luigi Maria Vignali.

The attention with which the Ministry is following the affair was reiterated and all necessary consular assistance was ensured in the hope that light will quickly be shed on what has happened and that the case will be resolved. 

Alessia is not the only one to have been arrested for this reason, together with the Italian embassy, ​​the German, French, Dutch, Polish and Swedish embassies are also moving.

The reasons for the arrest are not known but as the Corriere highlighted in a note from the Iranian Ministry of Information of 30 September, one of the possible reasons is evident: the police speak of the foreigners arrested and report the arrest measure to the protests in progress from weeks in the country.

On Instagram, the young travel blogger talks about a journey full of charm but at the same time complicated and also explains the difficulties with the visa.

In the videos you talk about waiting for a visa for Pakistan which has not yet arrived.

In Tehran they don't seem to want to give her any more time.

In the following images she can be seen near the bus park, from where she would like to leave for Islamabad.

"But there are no buses because there is a religious holiday in Iraq and all the rides were destined for that celebration."

She walks three kilometers alone to reach a bus, she finds herself without a visa and on the street.

Until she approaches a person who offers help to obtain an extension of the stay.

"See you in the morning and solve the problem." 

Alessia and the stories of the demonstrations in the square

In one of the last posts written on Instagram, Alessia Piperno told of the street demonstrations and how one day two women, two men and two children arrived in her hostel to ask them for help, frightened by the clashes.

"I don't think I'll ever forget that first night - her words -. We ran to the hostel with our hearts in our throats, while the sounds of gunfire boomed behind us and the smell of gas wafted into the air."

"I closed the door of the hostel while people were screaming in the streets - he continues - after less than 30 seconds I heard a violent knock on the door of the hostel. They were two women, two men and two children. They were coughing sharply from breathing in the gas , and the older woman had an asthma and panic attack. "Milk, milk."

As I passed him a glass of water.

In those seconds it seemed to me that I didn't understand anything.

The chaos had followed me inside those walls. "The story ends with the drawing made by a little girl on Alessia's mobile phone in those moments of terror." She has drawn a house-she concludes-.

She didn't speak English, yet when she drew that sun, she said 'Sun' to me.

Sun, you told me ".

The story of the Italian she met in Iran before her arrest

"I arrived in Iran around 8 August then I went down south and I arrived in Kashan, a city in central Iran. Alessia arrived in the hostel where I was staying and they told her that there was another Italian, she joined me in the common area she introduced herself and we spent the whole evening together. A very nice and pleasant evening, so much so that we were sorry to say goodbye ".

Jessica Ciofi, 46 years old from Florence, psychologist president of the Profession and Solidarity Association, talks about her meeting with Alessia Piperno, the 30-year-old Roman girl who was arrested by the Tehran police in recent days.

They quickly found themselves as women traveling alone.

A theme in common with Alessia "They always asked her 'aren't you afraid?'

and with her stories on Instagram she wanted to break down these prejudices, she said 'if what I write serves to break down prejudices towards other cultures to a minimum, I think it's a time well spent ". Alessia Piperno - continues Jessica Ciofi -" is a a girl curious about the world who wants to know it, but she is not a revolutionary, she is not part of movements, she is not politicized.

I don't know why she was there at that moment.

I heard her twenty days ago she was on the Caspian Sea, then I never heard her again, obviously she decided to go down again.

But she is not a revolutionary who went there to throw cobblestones at the government.

She is not that thing there. "Jessica Ciofi understood that the Italian girl arrested in Iran could have been Alessia of her from her daughter to whom she had told this meeting."

My daughter texted me 'Isn't that girl you told us about?'

At that point I shivered, looked at the news and recognized it.

I am really anxious because beyond the people who are wonderful and welcoming the laws in Iran are really strict.

I don't know what they may have accused her of, but I'm scared. "