Dong Yuyu, a veteran Chinese journalist and former editor at Guangming Daily, was sentenced to seven years in prison for espionage by a Beijing court on Friday, according to a family member. Dong, 62, was detained in February 2022 while dining with a Japanese diplomat in Beijing. He was charged with espionage following his arrest. There was a heavy police presence outside the court, with at least seven police cars stationed nearby, and Reuters journalists were asked to leave the area. A U.S. diplomat confirmed that they were barred from attending the hearing.
Dong had been detained in a Beijing prison since a closed-court hearing in July 2023, awaiting the verdict. His interactions with foreign diplomats and journalists were well-known, and the Japanese diplomat he met during the incident was also detained for several hours, leading to a strong protest from Japan’s foreign ministry. The diplomat was later released.
Dong, a former Nieman Fellow at Harvard, had also served as a visiting scholar at Keio University and Hokkaido University in Japan. He joined Guangming Daily in 1987 and was the deputy editor of its commentary section. Known for his articles on legal and social reforms, Dong advocated moderate changes without criticizing Chinese President Xi Jinping directly. His family had kept his detention private initially but later disclosed his case, which is now being widely protested by press freedom NGOs. An online petition for his release has garnered over 700 signatures.
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