China court sentences journalist to seven years on spy charges, family says

A Beijing court sentenced veteran Chinese state media journalist Dong Yuyu on Friday to seven years in prison for espionage, a family member told Reuters.

Former Guangming Daily editor and journalist Dong Yuyu, 62, was detained by police in Beijing in February 2022 while having lunch with a Japanese diplomat, according to a statement from the US National Press Club, and later charged with espionage.

There was a heavy police presence outside Beijing’s No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court, with at least seven police cars parked nearby. Reuters journalists were asked to leave the area.

A US diplomat told Reuters that they had been barred from attending the hearing.

Dong has been detained in a Beijing prison awaiting the verdict since a closed-court hearing in July 2023, the press club said in September.

He regularly had in-person exchanges with foreign diplomats from various embassies and journalists. The Japanese diplomat he met was also detained for several hours, triggering a strong complaint from the Japanese foreign ministry.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said at the time that the diplomat was engaged in activities “inconsistent with their capacity” in China. The diplomat was later released.

Dong participated in the prestigious Harvard Nieman Fellowship and was a visiting scholar and visiting professor at Keio University and Hokkaido University in Japan, according to a family statement in April 2023.

He joined the Communist Party-affiliated Guangming Daily in 1987 after graduating from Peking University law school, and was the deputy editor of its commentary section.

He had written opinion articles in Chinese media and liberal academic journals on topics from legal reforms to social issues, and co-edited a book promoting the rule of law in China. His articles advocated moderate reforms while avoiding direct criticism of Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

His family had initially kept news of his detention private in the hope that charges could be reduced or dropped but were notified in March 2023 that his case would be sent to trial, their statement said.

Multiple press freedom non-government organizations (NGO) have called for his release. An online petition for his release has collected over 700 signatures from journalists, academics and NGO workers.

“Dong Yuyu is a talented reporter and author whose work has long been respected by colleagues at home and abroad,” said Ann Marie Lipinski, curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. “We stand with many in hoping for his release and return to his family.”

The Australian writer and pro-democracy blogger Yang Hengjun was handed a suspended death sentence on espionage charges by a Beijing court in February.