A Beijing court sentenced veteran Chinese state media journalist Dong Yuyu on Friday to seven years in prison for espionage, his family said in a statement, calling the verdict a grave injustice.
Police in the Chinese capital detained the 62-year-old former Guangming Daily editor and journalist in February 2022 while he was having lunch with a Japanese diplomat, the US National Press Club said in a statement. He was later accused of espionage.
“Sentencing Yuyu to seven years in prison without any evidence declares to the world the bankruptcy of the judicial system in China,” Dong’s family said in a statement provided to Reuters.
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“Today’s verdict is a grave injustice not only to Yuyu and her family, but also to all free-thinking Chinese journalists and all ordinary Chinese committed to friendly engagement with the world.”
The family added that in the court’s ruling, the Japanese diplomats Dong met with were “specifically named as agents of a ‘spy organization,’ which is the Japanese embassy in Beijing.”
Dong’s conviction implies that all Chinese citizens should “know that the Chinese government may consider these embassies as ‘spy organizations,'” he said.
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Police guarded the courthouse on Friday with seven cars parked nearby, and journalists were asked to leave the area. A US diplomat said they had been barred from the hearing.
Dong has been held in a Beijing prison since a closed court hearing in July 2023, the press club reported in September.
Chinese authorities handled the case “strictly in accordance with the law,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said on Friday.
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Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya declined to comment on the verdict.
“In any case, diplomatic activities carried out in our missions abroad are legitimate activities,” he said at a press conference.
Beh Lih Yi, Asia program manager at the Committee to Protect Journalists, said “Chinese authorities should reverse this unfair verdict and protect journalists’ right to work freely and safely in China.”
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Dong regularly exchanged information in person with diplomats from various embassies and journalists.
The Japanese diplomat he met with, one of two he met regularly, was also detained for several hours, prompting a complaint from the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
At the time, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the diplomat was involved in activities “inconsistent with his capabilities” in China. The diplomat was later released.
