Niger’s military authorities have provisionally revoked the nationality of five opposition figures living in exile, extending a policy that Human Rights Watch says is increasingly being used against critics of the junta.
According to HRW, General Abdourahamane Tiani, who has led Niger’s military authorities since the July 2023 coup, signed a decree on September 17, 2026, removing the nationality of the five Nigeriens.
The measure is linked to a 2024 order that established a national terrorism database. HRW said the order has broad criteria for inclusion and insufficient legal safeguards, raising concerns about privacy, data protection and the possibility of people being left stateless.
“The Niger junta’s use of a terrorism database to deprive people of their nationality without any meaningful legal safeguards raises serious human rights concerns,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch.
“Nationality is a fundamental legal status, not a privilege that governments can take from people for political reasons.”
The five affected individuals include former Prime Minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou and three former advisers to ousted President Mohamed Bazoum — Amadou dit Ange Barou Chekaraou, Oumarou Moussa Ibrahim and Ousmane Abdoul Moumouni.
The fifth person is Boubacar Seyni Souley, a social media activist who has criticised the military authorities.
The decree accuses the five men of several offences, including spreading information allegedly capable of disturbing public order, providing intelligence to foreign powers, electronic defamation, undermining the morale of the armed forces and threatening state security.
Nationality Revocation Raises Legal Questions
The move has also raised questions over whether the junta followed Niger’s existing nationality laws.
Niger’s 1984 Nationality Code does not provide for the “provisional loss” of nationality. Where nationality can legally be withdrawn, the law requires authorities to notify the individual and give them one month to submit a written defence before the decision is published in the official journal.
“Nothing of the sort is happening here,” the Alliance of Sahel Democrats, a coalition of Nigerien, Malian and Burkinabè diaspora opposition groups advocating a return to constitutional rule, said in a September 18 statement.
The alliance also argued that the latest decree conflicts with the 2024 order itself because the individuals are being deprived of their nationality while their cases are still before the courts. According to the coalition, the order states that nationality can only be revoked after a conviction.
Niger’s press agency reported that the latest action brings the number of people provisionally deprived of Nigerien nationality under the 2024 order to 25.
The junta previously stripped nine people linked to Bazoum of their nationality in October 2024. In June, authorities also revoked the citizenship of Mariama Djibrine, an opposition figure living in exile.
The G25-Niger, an opposition coalition of civil society organisations and media groups established in 2025, criticised the policy in a September 19 statement, saying the 2024 order “is being used as a tool of political repression … to crack down on opponents and other dissenting voices.”
Since taking power in 2023, Niger’s military authorities have expanded their control and weakened institutions capable of holding them accountable, according to Human Rights Watch.
HRW said authorities have dissolved political parties and several independent unions, suspended dozens of civil society organisations, detained journalists under a broad cybercrime law, criminalised consensual same-sex relations and announced Niger’s withdrawal from the International Criminal Court.
The military authorities have also extended the country’s political transition without setting out a roadmap towards democratic elections. Bazoum remains detained, while prominent human rights defender Moussa Tchangari is also being held.
The junta has further increased scrutiny of critics outside the country. In June, Niger’s foreign affairs minister instructed diplomatic missions to monitor online criticism of the military authorities, including discussions by members of the diaspora about the country’s political and human rights situation.
Concerns Over Statelessness
HRW said political tensions in Niger have also intensified in recent weeks.
On August 28, mutinous soldiers attacked a military base at the international airport in Niamey and the presidential palace, with gunfire continuing for several hours. The soldiers also briefly took control of the headquarters of the state-owned national television broadcaster, disrupting its broadcasts.
General Tiani called on Russia’s government-controlled Africa Corps for assistance. HRW said the intervention, which included armed drones, helped forces loyal to the junta suppress the mutiny.
Niger is a party to the United Nations Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, which places restrictions on states depriving people of nationality when doing so would leave them without any nationality.
Colleagues of those affected by the September 17 decree told HRW that at least four of the five individuals possess only Nigerien passports.
HRW warned that losing nationality could expose the affected individuals and their families to a lack of legal and social protection in the countries where they live. It could also prevent them from returning to Niger, a right protected under international human rights law.
“The Niger junta has been depriving perceived political opponents of their nationality without meaningful due process, and contrary to Niger’s obligations to prevent statelessness and protect fundamental rights,” Allegrozzi said.
“The junta should immediately revoke the decree and suspend the use of the easily abused terrorism database.”
