The son of Chinese journalist Dong Yuyu jailed for espionage called for his father’s release on Monday at a National Press Club event where he denounced his father’s conviction as the Chinese government’s crackdown on press freedom.

Dong Yuyu’s son, Dong Yifu, has called on Japanese authorities in Washington to assist, emphasizing that his father did not commit espionage during his meetings with diplomats. Dong Yifu has also expressed concern that prison officials are depriving Dong Yuyu of adequate food and nutrition, underscoring the prison’s reputation for lack of sunlight. The case has garnered international support and many activities view Dong Yuyu’s arrest as part of the Chinese government’s efforts to suppress independent journalism.

The National Press Club President Mike Balsamo issued a statement last Friday calling on Chinese authorities to release Dong Yuyu. Dong Yuyu’s family also issued a statement in November 2024 expressing their shock upon learning that the court failed to review evidence before handing down Dong Yuyu’s verdict and seven-year prison sentence. In May 2023, the National Press Club leadership signed a letter in support of Dong Yuyu while PEN International and PEN Centres worldwide also called for his release around that same time. Reporters Without Borders has called China the “world’s largest prison for journalists” and the US State Department last Friday called for Dong Yuyu’s “immediate and unconditional release.”

Chinese authorities arrested Dong Yuyu in February 2022 while he was having lunch with a Japanese diplomat in Beijing. Authorities then transferred him to an undisclosed detention center where he has remained since his arrest and has had no contact with his wife. In November 2024, the Beijing Number 2 Intermediate People’s Court indicted Dong Yuyu for espionage and sentenced him to seven years in prison. The Beijing court refused to provide a copy of the verdict to Dong Yuyu’s lawyer or to his family and did not publish the verdict on the court’s website. Before his arrest, Dong Yuyu was a journalist and editor at the Guangming Daily, a newspaper controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, and a 2007 Nieman fellow at Harvard University.