Jailed Chinese journalist’s family cites health concerns

Family members and activists have called for the release of imprisoned Chinese journalist Dong Yuyu due to health concerns.

Dong, an editor at a major state-owned newspaper, the Guangming Daily, was taken away while meeting a Japanese diplomat for lunch in 2022 and was sentenced to seven years in prison for espionage in 2024.

“Yuyu is now effectively facing a death sentence,” the family said in a statement Thursday. Dong was hospitalised at a prison-affiliated hospital in Tianjin on April 27, according to his family. Doctors there found a heart arrhythmia and a lung tumour, which his family feared was malignant.

He had been working long hours while in prison, making clothes, and had not been able to rest properly, his family said. “My mother and I are very sad and anxious,” said Dong Yifu, the son, who has been advocating for his father’s release and is based in the US.