After seven and a half years in prison, Tibetan environmental defender A-Nya Sengdra has been released from Chinese prison.
A-Nya is a nomadic community leader from Kyangchu, Golog, Tibet. He founded “Mangdon Ling” (Public Affairs Forum), where he mobilized his local community to advocate against illegal mining, wildlife poaching, and local government corruption. This was enough to mark him a threat to the Chinese government. In 2018, A-Nya was detained on fabricated charges of “gathering people to disturb public order” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” – common charges Chinese authorities bring to criminalize dissent. In December 2019, in a sham trial, A-Nya Sengdra was found guilty and sentenced to seven years in prison. Throughout his imprisonment, all appeals for his retrial were rejected by the Chinese courts, his health deteriorated, and his family was only permitted to visit him twice.
He was initially due for release on September 4, 2025, but, without explanation or due process, the Chinese government extended his sentence..
As of February 7, 2026, details regarding A-Nya’s freedom of movement remain unclear. He is in poor health: kidney disease, vision loss and high blood pressure. Even though he has been released, the Chinese government has a well-documented track record of continuing to surveil, intimidate and harass human rights defenders. SFT will continue to monitor his case.
Activism Timeline:
1. April 2020: Ahead of A-Nya’s appeal hearing, SFT launched an urgent advocacy campaign urging the public to press U.S. consular officials in China to monitor his appeal, demand transparency, and call for his immediate release. Recognizing his role as a frontline environmental defender, SFT also mobilized the global climate movement — producing a cross-movement solidarity video to heighten international attention to his case.
2. May 2020: UN Special Rapporteurs called for China to drop charges, citing criminalization of legitimate environmental activism and concerns about his deteriorating mental and physical health.
3. July 2023: UN Special Rapporteurs issued a joint communication to China—including A-Nya among nine imprisoned Tibetan environmental defenders—highlighting lack of transparency and calling for information on their status. No response was received from China within the expected timeframe.
4. August 2025: Ahead of A-Nya’s expected release, SFT’s global grassroots network mobilized protests outside of their Chinese embassies with a clear message: the world is watching.
5. September 2025: After A-Nya’s sentence was arbitrarily extended, SFT leapt into action, mobilizing protests and awareness-building efforts such as canvassing and wheatpasting, across the world. The goal was clear: raise A-Nya’s profile to heighten scrutiny on his continued detention.
6. October 2025: Having mobilized strong grassroots support for A-Nya’s release, SFT took his case to governments and the United Nations. We secured a second joint communication from UN human rights experts to the Chinese government demanding transparency on his conditions and his immediate release. SFT Europe chapters raised his case directly with Members of the European Parliament during lobby meetings, while U.S. Congressional offices sent a joint letter to the Secretary of State urging bilateral pressure on Beijing. This coordinated high-level advocacy ensured continued international scrutiny, increasing the political cost of mistreating A-Nya in prison or extending his sentence again.
7. November-December 2025: SFT’s global grassroots network engaged in the Write for A-Nya campaign, flooding A-Nya’s prison with hundreds of letters of solidarity. Each letter served to remind A-Nya he was not alone and remind prison guards the world was paying close attention.