Ill in Prison, a Chinese Journalist Convicted of Spying Seeks Medical Parole

For decades, Dong Yuyu was a fixture of mainstream Chinese journalism — a longtime editor and columnist at the state-run Guangming Daily and a 2007 Nieman fellow at Harvard, known for measured commentary on legal and political reform. Now, imprisoned and in his 60s, he is gravely ill, and his family is pleading for his release to get treatment.

The case

Dong was detained in 2022 while having lunch with a Japanese diplomat in Beijing and was later convicted of espionage, a charge that rested on his meetings with foreign officials, Radio Free Asia reported. He was sentenced to seven years in prison, a term upheld on appeal. Chinese authorities maintain the conviction was lawful. His family, along with press-freedom organizations, rejects it, arguing that contacts with diplomats and foreign journalists were a normal part of his work and that the case criminalizes ordinary journalism.

The case has drawn condemnation from groups including the Committee to Protect Journalists — which honored Dong with an international press-freedom award — as well as PEN International and Reporters Without Borders. Hundreds of journalists, scholars and rights advocates have signed appeals for his release.

The medical crisis

The immediate concern is his health. After Dong was hospitalized this spring, doctors found a tumor in his lung that may be malignant, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported, and he has also been treated for an irregular heartbeat. His son has said the growth needs urgent, specialized evaluation, and that his father has grown thin in custody.

The appeal

Dong's family and advocacy groups are now pressing Chinese authorities to grant him medical parole — a provision in Chinese law that can allow seriously ill prisoners to be released for treatment — and to let him seek care, potentially abroad. PEN International has called for his immediate release on medical grounds. Whether Beijing will act is unclear. For his supporters, the plea has taken on urgency: a case they already viewed as an injustice has, they say, become a matter of a sick man's life.