Family of imprisoned Chinese journalist pleads for his release over 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. He 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 hospitalized at a prison-affiliated hospital in the city of Tianjin on April 27, according to his family. Doctors there found heart arrhythmia and a lung tumor his family feared was malignant. He had been working long hours making clothes while in prison, and has not been able to rest properly, his family said.

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