Niger: Six Month-Long Arbitrary Detention of Human Rights Defender Moussa Tiangari Must End
Niger's authorities should immediately release civil society activist and human rights defender Moussa Tiangari and stop using terrorism-related charges to silence dissent, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), in the framework of the Observatory for the protection of human rights defenders, said today.
On December 3, 2024, men claiming to be policemen arrested Tiangari at his home in Niamey, Niger's capital. On January 3, 2025, the Niamey High Court charged him with several serious offences, including 'criminal conspiracy in connection with a terrorist enterprise,' 'undermining national defence,' and 'plotting against the authority of the state through intelligence with enemy powers.' If convicted of plotting with enemy powers, he could face the death penalty.
On the same day, Tiangari was remanded to Filingué prison, 170 kilometers from Niamey, where he remains arbitrarily held in pretrial detention. Since then, he has not been interviewed on the merits of the charges against him before a judge.
'Moussa Tiangari is being detained solely for the exercise of his human rights. We urge the authorities to immediately release him and drop all charges. We are deeply concerned about the use of charges like these to silence critics of the government,' said Marceau Sivieude, interim regional director for West and Central Africa at Amnesty International.
Three weeks before his arrest, on November 12, 2024, Tiangari criticized on social media the decision of Niger's interior minister to revoke the licenses of two humanitarian nongovernmental organizations. He also criticized the establishment of a terrorism database, a move that further undermines the human rights of the people of Niger. Tiangari risks being stripped of his Nigerien nationality on terrorism charges, based on an August 2024 ordinance establishing a database for individuals and groups associated with terrorism and national defence offences.
Under Niger's penal code, terrorism-related charges can result in up to four years' non-renewable preventive detention. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, FIDH, and OMCT have examined the charges and can confirm that none of them relate to internationally recognizable offences, as each relates to the legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of expression.
'Tiangari's arrest is part of a wider trend of repression by the Nigerien authorities, who target and subject to constant judicial harassment all those who publicly criticize them, with the aim of silencing them,' said Drissa Traoré, secretary general of FIDH.
'Moussa Tiangari's arrest and subsequent detention sends a chilling message to anyone who may dare to criticize Niger's slide toward autocracy,' said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch.
'Tiangari's arrest is a grave mistake and counterproductive. For decades, he has embodied the Nigerien people's call for democracy, security, resource sovereignty, and independence. Any government that respects the people's will must release him,' said Isidore Ngueuleu, head of the Africa Regional Desk at OMCT.
Background
Tiangari, 55, is the secretary general of the civil society organization Citizens Alternative Spaces (Alternative Espaces Citoyens, AEC). At about 7:30 p.m. on December 3, 2024, at least three gunmen in plain clothes arrested Tiangari at his home in Niamey and seized his phone, laptop, and suitcase. His fate and whereabouts were unknown for two days.
On December 5, 2024, he was located at the Central Service for Combating Terrorism and Organized Transnational Crime in Niamey.
In March and May 2025 respectively, the Nigerien courts rejected Tiangari's lawyers' applications to have the case declared null and void and for the judicial division specialising in combating terrorism and cross-border organized crime to relinquish jurisdiction. Tiangari's lawyers have appealed against these rulings.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, FIDH, and OMCT have called for Tiangari's immediate and unconditional release. Amnesty International supporters have been taking action on his behalf.
In a joint press statement issued in July 2024, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and FIDH expressed their deep concern and denounced the repression carried out by Niger's military authorities against the opposition, the media, and peaceful dissent since they took power by a coup in July 2023.
In a report issued in March 2025, Amnesty International documented the clampdown on former government officials and critical voices since the coup.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Human Rights Watch (HRW).
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