Niger: 3 Years of Military Rule Deepens Human Rights Crisis

What the report says

AllAfrica, publishing a Human Rights Watch report, says Niger’s military authorities have tightened control and expanded repression nearly three years after the July 26, 2023 coup that removed elected President Mohamed Bazoum. HRW said Gen. Abdourahamane Tiani’s junta has weakened democratic oversight, dissolved political parties and some unions, suspended civil society organizations, prolonged the transition without an election roadmap, and moved to withdraw from the International Criminal Court.

The report says Bazoum, his wife, former Interior Minister Hama Amadou Souley, and rights defender Moussa Tiangari remain arbitrarily detained. HRW cited UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention opinions that found the detentions of Bazoum and Tiangari unlawful under international human rights standards. It also described changes to terrorism-related pretrial detention rules, including an extension that Tiangari’s lawyers argue should not apply retroactively.

HRW said the crackdown has affected media, opposition figures and diaspora critics. It reported that several journalists were arrested in Niamey in October 2025 under cybercrime provisions after sharing information about a media briefing, with one still detained as of the report. The organization also said authorities have temporarily stripped at least 18 exiled opposition figures of citizenship and revoked the nationality of diaspora opposition leader Mariama Djibrine in June 2026.

The report links Niger’s rights crisis to worsening insecurity, including attacks by Islamist armed groups in Tillabéri and alleged abuses by security forces, such as a January drone strike HRW says killed at least 17 civilians. HRW urged international partners and the UN to make accountability and human rights central to engagement with Niger’s junta.