China has sentenced a former journalist to seven years in prison on charges of espionage. Family members of the accused journalist confirmed this to the BBC on Friday.
Dong Yue, 62, had been detained since 2022. It was alleged against him that he maintained contacts in US-Japan academic and journalistic circles and regularly met with foreign diplomats.
When Dong Yue was arrested, he was a senior staff member of a Chinese Communist newspaper called 'Guangming Daily'. This newspaper is one of the five major newspapers associated with the Chinese Communist Party.
In February 2022, Dong Yue was arrested by police while having lunch at a restaurant with a Japanese diplomat the day after the Winter Olympics in Beijing. The Japanese diplomat was also arrested. However, after a few hours, he was released in the face of protests from the Japanese government.
Dong's family members said he regularly met foreign friends, journalists and foreign diplomats as part of his work.
In a statement, Dong's family said the court ruling said the two Japanese diplomats Dong met with were 'agents of a spy agency'. The two diplomats were Japanese embassy officials.
The statement added that Chinese authorities consider a foreign embassy to be a 'spy agency' and its officials to be agents of a 'spy agency'. Which shocked us.
In a statement, Dong's family claimed, “Today's verdict is a grave injustice not only for Dong Yue and his family, but also for every Chinese journalist and every ordinary Chinese citizen interested in maintaining cordial relations with the world.”
Security was tight outside the Beijing court where Dong was sentenced on Friday, Reuters reported. Journalists were asked to leave. A diplomat said they were not allowed to attend the hearing either.
The US National Press Club said in a statement on Tuesday, 'In the past, Chinese courts have often released their important news on Western holidays. This is because people are busy with other things.' Dong's judgment is also given on such a day. Yesterday Thursday (November 28) was Thanksgiving Day in Western countries.
Beh Leh Yee, Asia Program Manager of the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists, told Reuters, “The Chinese authorities must reverse this unjust verdict and give journalists the right to work freely and safely in China.” Dong Yue should be released immediately and allowed to see his family.'
According to a statement issued by Dong's family, he joined Guangming Daily after graduating from Peking University's law department in 1987. Dong Yue was one of the thousands of students who took part in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. He was punished with hard labor for this crime. But despite this punishment, Dong continued to work at the newspaper.
In 2007, Dong received a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University. During that time he wrote several articles for the New York Times. In addition, Dong Yue also worked as a visiting fellow and professor at several universities in Japan.
