Anya Sengra, the imprisoned Tibetan environmentalist and human rights defender, and a respected Tibetan civil society leader has been awarded the seventh Tenzin Delek Rinpoche Medal of Courage. The award ceremony was held at the Tibetan Association of Northern California Community Centre in Richmond, California on July 12.The Tenzin Delek Rinpoche Medal of Courage is awarded annually to Tibetan human rights defenders in recognition of their action to promote Tibetan human rights in the face of Chinese oppression.
The year’s award to Anya Sengra was received on his behalf by Dhondup Wangchen, a former political prisoner who was arrested and imprisoned for his part in making the documentary film Leaving Fear Behind. Dhondup Wangchen currently lives in the United States.
Anya Sengra was arrested on September 4, 2018 by Chinese officials in Amdo province and is currently serving a seven year prison sentence, from December 2019, for his peaceful campaigns on environmental issues and anti-corruption. He was charged with “provoking agitation” and gathering people “to disrupt public order,” and also accused of forming two Wechat groups which included the words “anti-corruption” and “environmental protection”.
In May 2019, a group of four United Nations (UN) Human Rights experts, together with the UN’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, issued a statement calling for the release of Anya Sengdra and expressing their concerns about his declining mental and physical health.
Tenzin Delek Rinpoche
The Tenzin Delek Rinpoche Medal of Courage award ceremony was hosted by San Francisco Team Tibet. The Medal of Courage award was initiated in 2016 by the International Tibet Network, a global coalition of 170 Tibet-related non-government organisations campaigning for an end to human rights violations in Tibet, and for restoring rights to the Tibetan people. The award is in remembrance of Tibetan community leader, philanthropist and human rights defender Tenzin Delek Rinpoche who spent over 13 years in a Chinese prison; he died in prison under suspicious circumstances and without seeing his family. He was accused of bombing in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province.
The first Medal of Courage was awarded to retired female medical doctor, Yeshi Choedron, who was arrested in March 2008. She was accused of providing “intelligence and information harmful to the security and interests of the state” to “the Dalai clique’s security department.”
Other nominees for the award are Rinchen Kyi, Tenzin Nyima and Bangri Rinpoche.
Rinchen Kyi, a school teacher from Golog prefecture in eastern Tibet, was arbitrarily detained from her home on charges of “inciting separatism”. She was released in April 2022.
Tenzin Nyima, 19, a monk from Dza Wonpo Monastery in Kardze, Sershul County was arrested in 2019 with four other young monks for peacefully demonstrating in front of a police station, calling for Tibet’s independence and throwing leaflets in the air. Nyima died of injuries sustained during his time in prison.
Bangri Rinpoche, the founder of an orphanage in Lhasa and teacher there, was arrested with his wife Nyima in 1999. Rinpoche was given a life sentence which was later commuted to 19 years; his wife was sentenced to 10 years. The couple was charged with attempting to “split” the country.
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