Niger: 3 Years of Military Rule Deepens Human Rights Crisis

What the report says

AllAfrica, publishing a Human Rights Watch report dated July 23, 2026, says Niger’s military authorities have tightened control over political life, civil society and the media nearly three years after the July 26, 2023 coup that removed elected President Mohamed Bazoum. HRW said Gen. Abdourahamane Tiani’s junta has dismantled checks on military power, dissolved political parties and some independent unions, suspended civil society groups, and extended the transition without a clear election timetable.

The report says Bazoum, his wife, former Interior Minister Hama Amadou Souley and rights defender Moussa Tiangari remain detained. HRW cited UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention opinions finding the detentions of Bazoum and Tiangari arbitrary. It also reported concern over changes to criminal procedure rules that expanded possible pretrial detention in terrorism cases after Tiangari’s lawyers sought his release.

Media freedom and civic space are also central concerns. HRW said journalists were arrested in Niamey in 2025 under cybercrime provisions after sharing information about a briefing linked to a solidarity fund for security forces. Some were later released, while one remained detained, according to the report. HRW also said authorities have used nationality measures against exiled opposition figures and adopted new penalties targeting consensual same-sex relations and LGBT-related organizing.

The report places the crackdown against a worsening security backdrop, including attacks by armed groups linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State in Tillabéri and alleged abuses by Nigerien forces, including a January drone strike HRW said killed civilians. HRW argued that Niger’s withdrawals from ECOWAS and the International Criminal Court reduce accountability options, and urged international partners to make human rights central to engagement with the junta.