The military authorities in Niger have cracked down on media, peaceful dissent, and the political opposition since taking power in a coup in July 2023. They have arbitrarily detained former President Mohamed Bazoum and his wife, dozens of officials from the ousted government, and people close to Bazoum, as well as several journalists. They have also rejected public oversight of military spending.
Niger continues to battle Islamist armed groups, including the Islamic State in the Sahel Province (ISSP) and the rival Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen, JNIM), as well as Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in its western and southeastern regions.
In response to the coup, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) imposed sanctions on the country and the coup leaders in August 2023, including travel bans and asset freezes. ECOWAS lifted the sanctions in February.
In August 2023, Niger’s current leader, Gen. Abdourahamane Tiani, announced a three-year transition to democratic rule, but no date for presidential elections has been fixed.
On January 28, the junta announced it would leave ECOWAS, along with Mali and Burkina Faso, a move that would limit opportunities for its citizens to seek justice for human rights violations through the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice.
On July 7, the military leaders of Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali signed a treaty establishing the Confederation of the Sahel States (Alliance des États du Sahel, AES), taking the Alliance of Sahel States, a mutual defense pact created in September 2023, a step further, and ruling out any possibility of returning to ECOWAS.
Post-Coup Crackdown on Opposition and Dissent
Since the coup, Bazoum and his wife have been detained at the presidential palace in Niamey, the capital. In December 2023, the ECOWAS Court ruled that Bazoum was arbitrarily detained and called for his release. In April, the authorities initiated legal proceedings against Bazoum to lift his presidential immunity so he could be prosecuted for alleged crimes committed after he was elected president in 2021. On June 14, Niger’s state court lifted the immunity following a proceeding that failed to meet basic due process and international fair trial standards, including the right to a defense.
Since the coup, the junta arbitrarily arrested at least 30 officials from the ousted government, including former ministers, members of the presidential cabinet, and people close to Bazoum, failing to provide them due process and fair trial rights. At least four of the officials were granted bail in April, while all others were charged with “threatening state security,” among other offenses, before a military court, despite being civilians.
On May 29, the justice and human rights minister issued a circular suspending all visits by human rights organizations to Nigerien prisons “until further notice,” in violation of national and international human rights law, including the Convention against Torture and its Optional Protocol, to which Niger is a party.
Post-Coup Crackdown on Freedom of Expression
Since the 2023 coup, media freedom has been severely restricted. The authorities have threatened, harassed, and arbitrarily arrested journalists, many of whom said they are self-censoring amid fear of reprisals.
On January 29, the interior minister issued a decree suspending the activities of Maison de la Presse, an independent media organization, and announcing the creation of a new management committee for the media organization headed by the Interior Ministry’s secretary general.
In April, security forces arrested journalist Ousmane Toudou. In the days following the July 2023 coup, Toudou denounced the military takeover through a widely shared social media post. In May 2024, he was charged with “plotting against state security” and sent to pretrial detention.
In April, security forces arrested Soumana Maiga, editor of L’Enquêteur, after the newspaper reported a story published by a French newspaper on the alleged installation of listening equipment by Russian agents in state buildings. He was brought before a judge in May, detained on a charge of infringement of national defense, and released pending trial on July 9.
Tchima Illa Issoufou, the Hausa language BBC radio correspondent in Niger, was threatened by members of the security forces who accused her of attempting to “destabilize Niger” because of her reporting on the security situation in the Tillabéri region, in western Niger, where Islamist armed groups have carried out attacks against both civilians and security forces. In May, Issoufou was forced to flee the country. On April 26, security forces arrested Ali Tera, a civil society activist whom Issoufou had interviewed.
On June 12, the justice minister announced that a 2019 cybercrime law had been amended. The law, which criminalized the “dissemination, production, and making available to others of data that may disturb public order,” was the basis of a crackdown on human rights in 2020, including the right to freedom of expression online. In 2022, the Bazoum government amended the law, replacing prison sentences with fines for defamation-related crimes. The June 12 amendments, however, reinstate prison sentences.
Backsliding on the Fight Against Corruption
On February 23, Tiani, who vowed to fight corruption after taking power, signed an order repealing any control on military spending. The order states that “expenditure for the acquisition of equipment or materials or any other supplies, the performance of works or services for the defense and security forces … shall be excluded from the scope of the legislation on public procurement and public accounting.” Transparency in military budgeting and expenditure is crucial to addressing corruption and mismanagement and contributes to respect for human rights and the rule of law and government accountability.
Attacks by Islamist and Other Armed Groups
An Islamist insurgency, which broke out in northern Mali in 2012 before spreading to neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015, has resulted in widespread abuses in Niger for more than a decade. The so-called “three borders area,” in southwest Niger’s Tillabéri region, between Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, has regularly suffered attacks by armed groups linked to the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda. The ISSP has imposed strict Sharia (Islamic law) in Tillabéri region, enforcing severe gender discriminatory rules, hindering the livelihoods of women and girls, limiting their participation in civic life, and exposing girls to child marriage.
Media reported that on January 6, Nigerien military drone strikes against Islamist armed groups killed several civilians in Tiawa village, Tillabéri region. The following day, the junta released a statement acknowledging civilian casualties, but did not provide any death toll.
Niger’s defense minister said that, on June 25, a “coalition of armed groups” killed twenty soldiers and one civilian in an attack on Tassia village, Tillabéri region.
On July 11, some 200 prisoners, including suspected Islamist fighters, escaped from a high security prison in Koutoukalé, Tillabéri region. Officials ordered heightened vigilance and launched search operations.
A series of attacks on the pipeline carrying crude oil from Niger to Benin were reported in 2024. Ethnic-Toubou rebels from the Patriotic Liberation Front (Front patriotique de libération), which is fighting for the release of Bazoum, claimed at least two attacks, including one on June 16 in Tesker that partially destroyed the pipeline.
New Terrorism Database
On August 27, Gen. Tiani signed Order No. 2024-43, establishing “an automated data processing file containing personal data of people, groups of people, or entities involved in acts of terrorism.” The ordinance sets out overly broad criteria for inclusion in the database, deprives those listed of due process and an adequate redress mechanism, and puts privacy rights at risk.
On October 10, Tiani signed a decree, based on the earlier order establishing the terrorism database, provisionally canceling the Nigerien nationality of nine people linked to Bazoum, raising rights concerns. By losing their nationality, individuals could be deprived of legal and social protections abroad and prevented from returning to Niger.