New York, November 3, 2026 —The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Chinese authorities to immediately release veteran journalist Dong Yuyu instead of ordering him to carry out prison labor weeks after lung surgery to remove a cancerous tumor.
“It is inhumane of Chinese authorities to expect 64-year-old Dong Yuyu to resume prison labor weeks after major surgery and demonstrates a blatant disregard for his life,” said CPJ Asia-Pacific Director Beh Lih Yi. “Dong Yuyu should not even be in prison on a bogus espionage charge. Chinese authorities must halt all prison labor demands and release him on humanitarian grounds.”
Dong, who is serving a seven-year sentence, was ordered to resume prison labour on October 12, working about 40 hours a week making clothes, just weeks after he underwent surgery in August at a prison hospital in the capital Beijing, his family told CPJ. His health had since declined, they said.
The tumor was detected in May, after Dong was admitted to hospital with heart palpitations and weight loss.
In March, Dong was transferred from Beijing No. 2 Prison, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the family’s Beijing home, to Chaobai Prison in the southeastern city of Tianjin, about 168 kilometers (104 miles) away, his family told CPJ. As a result, what was once a 40-minute drive to visit Dong now takes the family more than two hours.
Dong, who was an editor and columnist at the state-owned Guangming Daily, was arrested in 2022 while having lunch with a Japanese diplomat in Beijing. He was convicted of espionage in November 2024 and sentenced to seven years in jail.
CPJ has been advocating for Dong’s release and honored him with a 2025 International Press Freedom Award. China was the world’s worst jailer of journalists in CPJ’s 2025 prison census, with 49 currently behind bars.
China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a CPJ’s emailed request for comment.