Family of imprisoned Chinese journalist pleads for his release over health concerns

BANGKOK (AP) — 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 hospitalized at a prison-affiliated hospital in 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 while in prison making clothes, and has 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 U.S.

“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," said Aleksandra Bielakowska, an activist with Reporters Without Borders, in a statement.

The family is hoping that his case will be raised by U.S. President Donald Trump’s team at the summit with China’s President Xi Jinping next week.

Dong had worked for the state-backed Guangming Daily, based in Beijing, but also written for other publications, including Chinese magazines and The New York Times’ Chinese-language website.

Dong wrote articles arguing for constitutional democracy, political reform and transparency in politics — views allowed to circulate freely in the past that are now taboo in China.