Detention of Dong on espionage charges has been criticised by human rights and press freedom organisations
A court in Beijing is expected to rule on Thursday in the appeal of Dong Yuyu, a Chinese journalist who is serving a seven-year jail sentence on espionage charges.
The detention of Dong, a senior columnist with a long career in Chinese state media, has been criticised by the US government and by international human rights and press freedom organisations.
As well as being a columnist for the Communist party newspaper Guangming Daily, Dong has had his work published in the Chinese editions of the New York Times and Financial Times. He won a prestigious Nieman fellowship at Harvard University in 2006 and has been a visiting scholar at two Japanese universities.
The Nieman Foundation has described Dong as a “cherished member” of the international Nieman community and called for his release.
