The family of Chinese journalist Dong Yuyu, a 2007 Nieman Fellow and highly regarded editor who is serving a seven-year prison sentence on espionage charges, reports that he is facing serious health issues.
In a public statement, the family said that Dong, who had been in prison in Beijing since 2022, was transferred to Chaobai Prison in Tianjin in March and forced to perform long hours of hard labor. At the end of April, he sought medical attention for heart palpitations and discomfort, and a medical test detected a lung tumor that might be malignant.
The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard joins all who support Dong in calling for a parole so that he can receive the medical intervention he desperately needs.
Beh Lih Yi, the Asia-Pacific director for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said: “Dong Yuyu requires immediate attention for a fast-growing lung tumor and a host of other medical concerns. … His advanced age and the harsh conditions of his imprisonment make this an imperative. Chinese authorities must do the humane thing and act now so he can receive medical treatment.”
Aleksandra Bielakowska, the Asia Pacific advocacy manager for Reporters Without Borders, also spoke out on Dong’s behalf saying: “We are deeply concerned for Dong Yuyu’s health. Chinese prisons are notorious for their appalling conditions, lack of independent and high-quality medical support, and disregard for the well-being of prisoners. The international community must increase pressure on Beijing to secure his release on medical parole, as well as permission for him to travel abroad for treatment and reunite with his family.”
A respected senior columnist and editor at the Guangming Daily newspaper, Dong was detained on Feb. 21, 2022, while dining with a Japanese diplomat in a Beijing restaurant. He has been in custody since. Dong was officially charged with spying in March 2023 and sentenced to seven years in prison on Nov. 29, 2024.
In an update posted on May 7, Dong’s family said: “Everyone who worked on Yuyu’s case has reason to know, from those who arrested and interrogated him to those who prosecuted him and sentenced him, that Yuyu is innocent and never endangered China’s national security because there is nothing in the facts, evidence, and reasoning of Yuyu’s case that supports the false charges. … Yet Yuyu is now effectively facing a death sentence.”
The family hopes that Dong’s case might receive additional during the upcoming U.S.-China summit in Beijing. In a full-page ad in The Washington Post on May 12, 2025, Dong’s supporters wrote: “Dong’s prosecution reflects the repressive environment for journalists in China, which ranks 178 of 180 on the World Press Freedom Index — placing it near the very bottom of the list and signaling an extremely poor environment for press freedom. As President Donald Trump prepares to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing this week, this is a moment to speak plainly and stand for America’s values: Journalism is not a crime, and journalists should not be punished for doing their jobs.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists presented Dong Yuyu with its International Press Freedom Award in November 2025.
