A Beijing court sentenced veteran Chinese state media journalist Dong Yuyu on Friday to seven years in prison for espionage, a family member said.

Former Guangming Daily editor and journalist Dong Yuyu, 62, was detained by police in Beijing in February 2022 while having lunch with a Japanese diplomat, according to a statement from the U.S. National Press Club, and later charged with espionage.

There was a heavy police presence outside Beijing's No. 2 Intermediate People's Court, with at least seven police cars parked nearby. Reuters journalists were asked to leave the area.