Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, Aug. 26: Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) has honoured its France chapter and Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Anna Kwok with the Lhakar Award for Activism in Exile, while imprisoned Tibetan environmentalist A-Nya Sengdra received the Lhakar Award for Courage. The awards will be presented during Longsho Nite, SFT’s annual celebration on August 30 in New York.
“Each year, SFT presents the Lhakar Awards during Longsho Nite to recognize individuals and groups whose impactful, innovative, and courageous efforts advance the Tibetan freedom movement,” the global network of youth and activists said.
SFT France has been recognized for its prominent advocacy challenging how major French cultural institutions represent Tibetan identity. The grassroots network has led sustained campaigns against the Musée Guimet, which replaced the term “Tibet” with “Himalayan World” in its Tibetan art collections, and the Musée du Quai Branly, which used the Chinese term “Xizang” in place of “Tibet.” Activists argue such terminology erases Tibet’s identity and echoes Chinese political narratives. Through weekly protests and mobilization, SFT France and its supporters pressed the museums to restore the correct terminology. Their efforts succeeded at the Musée du Quai Branly, which reversed its decision within three weeks and issued an apology. However, after months of protests failed to move the Guimet, SFT France escalated its campaign in March 2025 by serving a legal notice to both the museum and the French Ministry of Culture, demanding the reinstatement of “Tibet” across all labels, publications, and exhibition materials.
A-Nya Sengdra, a Tibetan nomad and environmental activist from eastern Tibet, was arrested on 4 September 2018 and detained without trial for over 14 months. He was later sentenced to seven years in prison on the politically motivated charge of “gathering people to disturb public order,” in connection with his peaceful work as an environmentalist, community leader, and anti-corruption advocate. Although his appeal hearing was scheduled for 27 April 2020, it was postponed indefinitely. Rights groups report that he is being held in extremely poor conditions without adequate medical care, stressing that he was imprisoned solely for resisting China’s failed policies in Tibet, defending the environment, and speaking out against official corruption.
Anna Kwok, an exiled Hong Kong pro-democracy activist, is the Executive Director of the Washington, D.C.-based Hong Kong Democracy Council (HKDC). Since relocating to the U.S. in 2020, she has been an outspoken critic of Beijing’s tightening grip on Hong Kong. As head of the HKDC, Kwok leads policy advocacy, diaspora empowerment, and research initiatives to advance Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement abroad. The organization also monitors political prisoners in Hong Kong. A former organizer of the 2019 protests against the controversial extradition bill, Kwok has consistently urged foreign governments to impose sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials.
In July 2023, Hong Kong police issued an arrest warrant for Kwok and other overseas activists under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law, placing a HK$1 million bounty on her for alleged “collusion with foreign forces.” Since then, authorities have escalated their repression by targeting her family. In May 2025, both her father, Kwok Yin-sang, and her brother were arrested, a move condemned internationally by groups such as Human Rights Watch and Fortify Rights. Kwok’s 68-year-old father was later charged with “attempting to deal with funds or other financial assets” belonging to an “absconder,” referring to his daughter. The charge stemmed from an attempt to withdraw money from an insurance policy. While her brother was released on bail, her father pleaded not guilty in West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court on 6 August 2025.
Due to the risks of retaliation, Kwok has been forced to sever all contact with her family in Hong Kong to ensure their safety. She has spoken publicly about the emotional burden of sacrificing her connection with her loved ones for the pro-democracy cause.
One Response
Congratulations to the two recipients of LHAKAR AWARD for activism by French Chapter of Students for a Free Tibet for Tibetan environmentalist A-Nya Sengdra for his courage and Hong Kong Democracy activist Anna Kwok for her fight for democracy in Chinese communist ruled Hong Kong. A-Nya Sengdra has shown his courage to protect the environment of Tibet even though, he knew the Chinese occupiers would have him jailed for interrupting their illegal activities of poaching Tibetan flora and fauna, illegal mining and poisoning of Tibet’s rivers and land. Anna Kwok on the other hand has been vocal for her advocacy of Hong Kong democracy -LIBERATE HONG KONG, REVOLUTION OF OUR TIMES catch cry! She has one million dollars bounty on her head by the puppet regime of Hong Kong but she is not daunted to fight for the rights of the seven million Hong Kongers! The LIBERATE HONG KONG, REVOLUTION OF OUR TIMES IS IN FACT CHALLENGING CHINESE RULE IN HONG KONG WHICH HAS BECOME THE SYMBOL OF DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT IN THE FORMER BRITISH COLONY! AS IT TURNS OUT THE COLONIAL BRITISH WERE MORE BENIGN THAN THE EVIL CHINESE COMMUNISTS! The CCP claims blood relation to Hong Kong and Taiwan people but how it treats them goes to show the true colour and malevolent nature of the CCP thugs who use such catch-phrase only to hoodwink them!
TIBET AND HONG KONG ARE BOTH ENSLAVED BY THE EVIL CCP WHICH IS THE WORLD’S GREATEST KILLER REGIME KNOWN TO MANKIND. MAO’S KILLER REGIME IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATH OF 80 MILLION CHINESE, TIBETANS, UGHURS, MONGOLS AND MANCHURIANS! No foreign invader of China for centuries has ever killed such astronomical number of its own people. Under the CCP occupation, Tibet is turned into a concentration camp where Tibetans cannot travel freely even within the country, let alone outside of the country! It is a vast prison which is a carbon copy of Gaza under brutal Israeli occupation! When Tibet was independent, Tibetans travelled freely to neighbouring countries such as Nepal, Bhutan and India. They did brisk business with the people across Tibet’s borders. Today, under the Nazi Chinese regime, all of Tibet’s border with India, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Nepal are completely shut. People on either side cannot even meet each other and families have been separated owing to the closure of occupied Tibet’s borders! The CCP is an illegal and brutal occupier of Tibetan land and is attempting to ERASE TIBET, ITS NAME, ITS PEOPLE, CULTURE AND LANGUAGE IN ITS EVIL ATTEMPT TO LEGITIMISE ITS ILLEGAL OCCUPATION. The CCP is now planning to take those leaders who are attending the so called victory parade to occupied Tibet to legitimise its illegal occupation! We, the Tibetan people appeal those leaders from Africa, Asia and Latin America to refrain from visiting occupied Tibet since TIBET IS A VICTIM OF CHINESE COMMUNIST IMPERIALISM AND COLONIALISM YOU HAVE SUFFERED UNDER EUROPEAN COLONISERS! DON’T WISH FOR OTHERS WHAT YOU DON’T WISH FOR YOURSELVES!!! Every Tibetan has the responsibility to make sure the CCP’s sinister design to OBLITERATE TIBET doesn’t succeed. For the many Hong Kong activists who have bounty on their head by the Hong Kong puppet regime, should take heart that all colonised peoples in history have achieved decolonisation. Therefore, Tibetans and Hong Kongers must work together against the enemy who is hellbent to destroy Tibet and Hong Kong to ingratiate themselves with its blood-thirsty knack for extreme violence, subjugation, occupation and destruction! THE CCP REGIME IS NO DIFFERENT FROM NAZI GERMANY BY RIDING ON NATIONALISM, MILITARISM AND HAN CHAUVINISM!!! It will fall on its sword like Nazi Germany!!!