Chinese language journalist Dong Yuyu is seen on this undated picture supplied by his household on November 29, 2024.
Dong Yuyu’s household
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Dong Yuyu’s household
TAIPEI, Taiwan — China has sentenced a longtime Chinese language state media journalist to seven years in jail on prices of espionage, in a case press freedom advocates have criticized as opaque and politicized.
Dong Yuyu, 62, had been detained whereas lunching with a Japanese diplomat at a Beijing lodge in February 2022 and held for half a yr in a secret location earlier than being formally charged with espionage, a cost he denied, his household says.
The 7-year sentence, delivered in a Beijing courtroom on Friday, got here after months of delays in Dong’s sentencing. As in all circumstances China deems associated to nationwide safety, Dong’s trial was held in secret, with no press or household current, and the courtroom supplied no information of the testimony or proof to the general public.
“Yuyu is being persecuted for the independence he has demonstrated during a lifetime spent as a journalist,” his household stated in a press release.
On Friday, Dong’s legal professionals and household had been allowed in courtroom for the sentencing judgement, which was learn aloud however not shared in writing. The sentencing accused Dong of inappropriately sharing data with two Japanese diplomats, together with its then-ambassador to China, in response to a press release from Dong’s household.
Properly-known amongst educational and diplomatic circles for his liberal writings and scholarship, Dong labored for many years as a journalist and editor at Guangming Each day, a Communist Occasion-run publication. He usually traveled overseas and met with international consultants in China, exchanges he at all times disclosed however which his household now believes could have led to his arrest.
“He is the epitome of the kind of people-to-people exchanges that China has been working so hard to establish and maintain for the past 30 years,” the Nationwide Press Membership, an advocacy group based mostly in Washington, stated in a press release after Dong’s trial concluded in 2023. “That era is now over.”
Greater than 60 lecturers, former diplomats, and journalists have signed an open letter protesting his arrest.
From 2006-2007, Dong studied at Harvard College after receiving its prestigious Nieman journalism fellowship. In 2010, he was a visiting fellow at Japan’s Keio College, and in 2014 he spent the yr as a visiting professor at Hokkaido College.
He wrote overtly on how he believed China’s ruling Communist Occasion may enhance its governance however was no dissident or revolutionary. In 2002, the state-administered All China Journalists Affiliation gave Dong an award for a commentary piece he authored which praised the achievements and plans of the Communist Occasion.
“Yuyu will now be known as a traitor in his own country, instead of being recognized as someone who always fought for a better Chinese society,” his household stated.
