Un body calls for immediate release of nigerien rights defender

July 8, 2026. The Observatory welcomes WGAD Opinion No. 4/2026, adopted on March 23, 2026, and made public on June 23, 2026, which concludes that the deprivation of liberty of Mr. Moussa Tiangari is arbitrary. This opinion follows a complaint filed by the International League Against Arbitrary Detention (ILAAD) and sustained advocacy by civil society, including the Observatory, which has repeatedly called for his immediate release.

On December 3, 2024, the Secretary-General of Alternative Espaces Citoyens (AEC)—a Nigerien organization promoting human rights, migrant rights, and democratic values—was abducted from his home in Niamey and secretly detained for approximately 48 hours, raising concerns about torture or ill-treatment. On December 5, 2024, Mr. Tiangari was located in the premises of Niamey’s Central Service for Combating Terrorism and Transnational Organized Crime (SCLCT/CTO), where he was placed in police custody. On January 3, 2025, he was formally charged by the presiding judge of the High Court of Niamey.

His arrest occurred the same day he returned to Niger from Abuja, Nigeria, where he had attended the Board of Directors meeting of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD)—a partner of AEC. Days earlier, he had traveled to Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, to participate in the seventh edition of the “Itinérant Humanitarium” international conference organized by the ICRC on November 28, 2024, marking the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions. The conference focused on humanitarian challenges and the importance of upholding international humanitarian law. A journalist with close ties to Nigerien authorities accused him, in a December 4, 2024 article, of making statements during this event that allegedly harmed Niger’s interests. Additionally, on November 28, 2024, AEC had organized a conference criticizing the military regime’s decision to revoke the nationality of certain individuals, which was attended by the Republic Prosecutor of the High Court of Niamey and former dignitaries, including a former Minister of Justice.

The WGAD found Mr. Tiangari’s detention arbitrary due to the lack of legal basis, severe violations of his right to a fair trial, and discriminatory motives tied to his exercise of freedom of opinion and expression on matters of public interest, his participation in public affairs, and his rights to peaceful assembly and association. The WGAD concluded that Nigerien authorities violated Articles 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 19, 20, and 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as Articles 2, 9, 14, 16, 19, 21, 22, 25, and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The Observatory condemns the continued arbitrary detention of Mr. Tiangari at the high-security prison in Filingué, despite the WGAD’s unequivocal conclusions. He faces charges of apology for terrorism (Article 399.1.17 (bis) of the Nigerien Penal Code), endangering state security (Articles 62 and following), criminal association linked to a terrorist enterprise (Article 399.1.19 (new)), endangering national defense (Articles 66 and following), and conspiracy against state authority in collusion with enemy powers (Articles 62 and following). If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

As recently as May 15, 2026, the Appeals Chamber of Niamey’s specialized court for terrorism and transnational organized crime rejected his request for provisional release. Yet, Article 615 of Order No. 2026-10 of February 16, 2026, which established the new Code of Criminal Procedure, states that preventive detention in terrorism cases cannot exceed twelve months, renewable once in criminal matters. This should have allowed Mr. Tiangari’s release after 18 months in detention. On June 19, 2026, his legal team filed a motion with the specialized Appeals Chamber to compel his release. However, Order No. 2026-35 of June 26, 2026, retroactively amended Article 615 to extend the maximum preventive detention period to four years in criminal matters, renewable once. His lawyers warn that this change may be an attempt to prolong his detention.

This is not Mr. Tiangari’s first arbitrary detention. He has faced long-standing judicial harassment due to his peaceful human rights activism. In May 2015, he was arbitrarily detained for 10 days and charged with endangering national defense and statements likely to demoralize troops in connection with reports published by AEC. On March 25, 2018, he was arrested again and held for four months, charged with organizing and participating in an unauthorized protest, complicity in violence and property destruction for his role in peaceful demonstrations against the 2018 finance law. In March 2020, he was once more arrested and detained for a month and a half following an anti-corruption protest denouncing embezzlement in military procurement.

Mr. Tiangari’s case reflects a broader pattern in Niger since the July 27, 2023 coup, characterized by a shrinking civic space and repeated violations of fundamental rights. Freedom of expression, opinion, association, assembly, and protest have been systematically restricted through arbitrary arrests, detentions, and nationality revocations targeting human rights defenders and dissenting voices.

The Observatory urges Nigerien authorities to immediately comply with the WGAD’s opinion by releasing Mr. Tiangari unconditionally, dropping all charges against him, granting him reparations, and conducting an independent investigation into his arbitrary detention and alleged torture or ill-treatment. It also calls for an end to all forms of judicial harassment against him and other human rights defenders in Niger. Authorities must ensure the full respect of freedom of expression, as guaranteed by international human rights law, particularly Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to which Niger is a state party.