Via Kom News – Gabriele Del Grande, an Italian journalist detained by Turkish authorities since 10 April, was released on Monday and is on his way back to Italy, said Minister of Foreign Affairs Angelino Alfano on Twitter. “Gabriele Del grande is free. I just talked to him, he is on his way back to Italy. I had the joy to inform his family. We are awaiting him,” Alfano said.

Gabriele Del Grande was detained on 9 April while carrying out research for a book near the Syrian border. He went on a hunger strike on Tuesday last week which, along with a solidarity campaign on social media, initiated diplomatic traffic that eventually led to his release.

Del Grande, editor of the blog Fortress Europe, was detained without any formal charges in a detention centre in Mugla, southwestern Turkey, after his arrest in Hatay province in Southern Turkey, bordering Syria.