(Nairobi) – A coalition of human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), is demanding that Nigerien authorities immediately release civil society activist Moussa Tiangari. The groups are urging the government to stop leveraging terrorism charges as a tool to silence dissenting voices.
Moussa Tiangari was apprehended at his residence in Niamey, the capital of Niger, on December 3, 2024, by individuals identifying themselves as police officers. On January 3, 2025, the Niamey High Court charged him with several grave offenses, including “criminal conspiracy in connection with a terrorist enterprise,” “undermining national defense,” and “conspiracy against state authority in collusion with enemy powers.” A conviction on the charge of conspiracy with enemy powers could result in the death penalty.
On the same day he was charged, Tiangari was moved to Filingué prison, located 170 kilometers from Niamey. He has been held there in arbitrary pre-trial detention ever since, without having been heard by a judge on the merits of the allegations against him.
“Moussa Tiangari is being detained solely for exercising his human rights. We urgently call on the authorities to release him immediately and to drop all charges against him. We are deeply concerned by the use of such accusations to silence those who criticize the government,” stated Marceau Sivieude, Amnesty International’s acting regional director for West and Central Africa.
His arrest came three weeks after he publicly criticized the Nigerien Minister of the Interior on social media. On November 12, 2024, Tiangari had condemned the decision to revoke the licenses of two humanitarian non-governmental organizations. He had also spoken out against the creation of a registry for individuals and groups associated with terrorism, a measure he argued undermines the human rights of the Nigerien population. Due to an August 2024 ordinance establishing this database, he now faces the risk of being stripped of his Nigerien nationality over the terrorism accusations.
Under Niger’s penal code, terrorism-related charges can lead to a pre-trial detention period of up to four years, which cannot be renewed. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, FIDH, and OMCT have reviewed the charges and confirm that they do not correspond to internationally recognized crimes, as they are all connected to the lawful exercise of the right to freedom of expression.
“The arrest of Moussa Tiangari is part of a widespread trend of repression by Nigerien authorities, who target and subject anyone who publicly criticizes them to constant judicial harassment in order to silence them,” said Drissa Traoré, Secretary General of FIDH.
“His arrest and detention send a chilling message to all those who dare to criticize the Nigerien regime’s slide towards autocracy,” noted Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch.
“The arrest of Moussa Tiangari is a serious and counterproductive mistake. For decades, he has embodied the Nigerien people’s call for democracy, security, resource sovereignty, and independence. A government that respects the will of the people would release him,” declared Isidore Ngueuleu, head of the OMCT’s Africa regional office.
Background
Moussa Tiangari, 55, serves as the Secretary General of Alternatives Espaces Citoyens (AEC), a civil society organization. On December 3, 2024, at approximately 7:30 p.m., at least three armed men in plain clothes arrested him at his home in Niamey, confiscating his phone, laptop, and a suitcase. His whereabouts remained unknown for two days.
On December 5, 2024, he was located at the Central Service for the Fight against Terrorism and Transnational Organized Crime in Niamey.
In March and May 2025, Nigerien courts rejected motions from Moussa Tiangari’s lawyers to have the case dismissed and to remove it from the jurisdiction of the specialized judicial chamber for combating terrorism. The lawyers have since appealed these decisions.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, FIDH, and OMCT have consistently called for the immediate and unconditional release of Moussa Tiangari, with Amnesty International members mobilizing in his support.
In a joint press release in July 2024, these organizations voiced deep concern over the repression by Niger’s military authorities against opposition figures, media, and peaceful dissent since the July 2023 coup.
Furthermore, a March 2025 report by Amnesty International documented the crackdown on former government members and critical voices following the coup.
