Dharamshala — A-Nya Sengdra was released on February 4, 2026, after serving seven years and five months in the Chinese prison. He has returned home and been reunited with his family. Details regarding his health and the conditions of his freedom remain unknown.
His release was initially scheduled for September 4, 2025, after completing his seven-year sentence, but the Chinese government arbitrarily extended his detention, despite reports of his deteriorating health. He was finally released on February 4, 2026.
The Chinese police arrested A-Nya Sengdra on September 4, 2018, for his environmental activism and anti-corruption work in Tibet, and sentenced him to seven years in prison. He was leading a peaceful campaign against illegal mining projects, poaching and corruption in order to protect his community and nature.
He was initially scheduled to be released on September 4, 2025. But on September 6, 2026, the Chinese authorities arbitrarily extended his sentence until February 2026, without giving any reason. Tibetans have therefore organised protests against the Chinese government to demand his immediate release.
The Tibetan activists sent hundreds of letters to Chinese embassies around the world, from Toronto to Amsterdam, and from Oslo to Chicago, urging the Chinese government to release A-Nya Sengdra on February 6, 2026.
More than 50 Tibetan activists from the Students for a Free Tibet in New York, organised a protest outside the Chinese consulate in New York on September 6, 2025, to protest the Chinese government's decision to extend the sentence of Tibetan environmentalist A-Nya Sengdra and to call on the Chinese authorities to release A-Nya Sengdra.
Tibetan activists from the Students for a Free Tibet held protests against the Chinese Communist governments on August 24 and 29 and September 3, 2025, in Brussels (Belgium), London (United Kingdom), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Oslo (Norway), and Paris (France) to demand the Chinese government's immediate release of Tibetan environmentalist A-Nya Sengdra.
