Niger Junta: Strips Five Critics Nationality, Violates 1984 Code

• Niger's junta provisionally stripped five more exiled opposition figures of their nationality on September 17, 2026, via a decree signed by Gen. Abdourahamane Tiani.
• The action, authorized by a 2024 order creating a national terrorism database, targets former Prime Minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou and other critics, accusing them of offenses like threatening state security.
• Human Rights Watch criticized the move, stating nationality is a fundamental legal status, and the decree appears to violate Niger's 1984 Nationality Code by lacking due process.
• The Alliance of Sahel Democrats noted the decree contradicts the 2024 order itself, which requires a conviction before nationality deprivation.
• This brings the total number of individuals provisionally deprived of Nigerien nationality under the 2024 order to 25, reflecting the junta's broader pattern of authoritarian rule since the 2023 coup.

This latest decree underscores a concerning trend of the military authorities utilizing legal instruments to silence dissent and consolidate power, raising profound questions about due process and fundamental human rights in Niger.

Niger's military junta has provisionally revoked the nationality of five additional exiled opposition figures, marking an escalation of its controversial policy against perceived critics of the military authorities. The decree, signed on September 17, 2026, by Gen. Abdourahamane Tiani, who has led the junta since the July 2023 coup, targets prominent Nigeriens living abroad.

Among those affected by the Gen. Abdourahamane Tiani decree are former Prime Minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou; Amadou dit Ange Barou Chekaraou, Oumarou Moussa Ibrahim, and Ousmane Abdoul Moumouni, all of whom previously served as advisers to President Mohamed Bazoum, who remains arbitrarily detained following his ouster in 2023. Also included is Boubacar Seyni Souley, a social media activist known for his critical stance against the junta. The decree accuses these individuals of various offenses, including disseminating information that could disturb public order, providing intelligence to foreign powers, electronic defamation, demoralizing the armed forces, and threatening state security.

This recent action by the junta raises significant questions regarding its adherence to established legal frameworks, particularly Niger's 1984 Nationality Code. This code does not provide for a 'provisional loss' of nationality, and where deprivation is permitted, it mandates that authorities notify the individual concerned and grant them a one-month period to submit a written defense before any measure is officially published. These procedural safeguards appear to have been bypassed in the current decree.

The decree's authority stems from a 2024 order that established a national terrorism database, characterized by overly broad inclusion criteria and insufficient due process requirements or avenues for redress. Human Rights Watch has voiced strong criticism, with senior Sahel researcher Ilaria Allegrozzi emphasizing that nationality is a fundamental legal status, not a privilege subject to political manipulation. Furthermore, the Alliance of Sahel Democrats, a coalition of diaspora opposition groups, highlighted that the September 17 decree contradicts the 2024 order itself, which stipulates that deprivation of nationality can only be imposed following a conviction, whereas the targeted individuals are still undergoing prosecution. This constitutes a clear Niger nationality code 1984 violation and underscores the concerns raised by Human Rights Watch Niger nationality experts.

The provisional stripping of nationality for these five individuals brings the total number of people affected by such measures under the 2024 order to 25, according to Niger's press agency. Previous instances include the provisional revocation of nationality for nine individuals linked to former President Bazoum in October 2024, and for opposition figure Mariama Djibrine in June. This pattern of Niger citizenship revocation is viewed by the G25-Niger, an opposition coalition formed in 2025, as evidence that the Niger 2024 terrorism database order is being weaponized as a tool of political repression to suppress dissenting voices.

Since seizing power in 2023, Niger's military junta has systematically entrenched authoritarian rule, consolidating extensive and unchecked powers. This has involved weakening institutions designed to hold the military authorities accountable. In the past year alone, the junta has dissolved all political parties and several independent unions, suspended numerous civil society groups, detained journalists under a broad cybercrime law, criminalized consensual same-sex relations, announced Niger's withdrawal from the International Criminal Court, and prolonged the country's political transition without outlining any clear roadmap toward democratic elections. This latest decree underscores a concerning trend of the military authorities utilizing legal instruments to silence dissent and consolidate power, raising profound questions about due process and fundamental human rights in Niger.

Lawyers advising individuals or entities with ties to Niger should be aware of the junta's increasing disregard for established legal frameworks, particularly concerning nationality and due process, which creates significant legal uncertainty and human rights risks for those perceived as critics. This trend indicates a heightened risk of arbitrary deprivation of rights and lack of legal recourse under the current regime.

Source: Original reporting via Human Rights Watch