The sentencing of Dong Yuyu, a former Harvard Nieman fellow, signals that officials consider some exchanges between Chinese citizens and foreigners to be espionage.

By Laurie Chen and James Pomfret BEIJING (Reuters) -A Beijing court sentenced veteran Chinese state media journalist Dong Yuyu on Friday to seven years in prison for espionage, a family member told Reuters.

Veteran Chinese journalist Dong Yuyu faces espionage charges after a meeting with a Japanese diplomat in 2022. His trial awaited a verdict following a July 2023 closed hearing. Press freedom NGOs are calling for his release,

Chinese journalist Dong Yuyu was sentenced in a Beijing court to seven years in prison for espionage after meeting with a Japanese diplomat at a restaurant.

With Yuyu’s conviction, every Chinese citizen, when dealing with the Japanese embassy — or perhaps any other foreign embassy and diplomat — will be expected to know that

They called Dong’s sentencing a “grave injustice”, not only to him and his family but to the broader community of “freethinking” Chinese citizens and journalists. "Sentencing Yuyu to seven years in prison on no evidence declares to the world the bankruptcy of the justice system in China ,

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.

Longtime state media journalist Dong Yuyu met often with journalists and diplomats. His family believes he is now being persecuted for those exchanges.