Niger : Six month-long arbitrary detention of human rights defender Moussa Tchangari must end

On 3 December 2024, men claiming to be policemen arrested Moussa Tchangari at his home in Niamey, Niger’s capital. On 3 January 2025, the Niamey High Court charged him with several serious offences, including “criminal conspiracy in connection with a terrorist enterprise,” “undermining national defence,” and “plotting against the authority of the state through intelligence with enemy powers.” If convicted of plotting with enemy powers, he could face the death penalty.

On the same day, Tchangari was remanded to Filingué prison, 170 kilometres from Niamey, where he remains arbitrarily held in pre-trial detention. Since then, he has not been interviewed on the merits of the charges against him before a judge.

“Moussa Tchangari is being detained solely for the exercise of his human rights. We urge the authorities to immediately release him and drop all charges. We are deeply concerned about the use of charges like these to silence critics of the government,” said Marceau Sivieude, Amnesty International’s Interim Regional Director for West and Central Africa.

Three weeks before his arrest, on 12 November 2024, Tchangari criticized on social media the decision of Niger’s interior minister to revoke the licenses of two humanitarian nongovernmental organizations. He also criticized the establishmentof a terrorism database, a move that further undermines the human rights of the people of Niger. Moussa Tchangari risks being stripped of his Nigerien nationality on terrorism charges, based on an August 2024 ordinance establishing a database for individuals and groups associated with terrorism and national defence offences.

Under Niger’s penal code, terrorism-related charges can result in up to four years’ non-renewable preventive detention. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, FIDH and OMCT have examined the charges and can confirm that none of them relate to internationally recognisable offences as each relates to the legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of expression.

“Tchangari’s arrest is part of a wider trend of repression by the Nigerien authorities, who target and subject to constant judicial harassment all those who publicly criticize them, with the aim of silencing them,” said Drissa Traoré, Secretary general of FIDH.

“His arrest and subsequent detention send a chilling message to anyone who may dare to criticize Niger’s regime slide towards autocracy,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch.

“Tchangari’s arrest is a grave mistake and counterproductive. For decades, he has embodied the Nigerien people’s call for democracy, security, resource sovereignty, and independence. Any government that respects the peoples’ will must release him”, said Isidore Ngueuleu, Head of the Africa Regional Desk at OMCT.

Background

Tchangari, 55, is the Secretary general of the civil society organization Citizens Alternative Spaces (Alternatives Espaces Citoyens – AEC). At about 7:30 p.m. on 3 December 2024, at least three gunmen in plain clothes arrested Tchangari at his home in Niamey, and seized his phone, laptop, and suitcase. His fate and whereabouts were unknown for two days.

On 5 December 2024, he was located at the Central Service for Combating Terrorism and Organized Transnational Crime, in Niamey.

In March and May 2025 respectively, the Nigerien courts rejected Moussa Tchangari’s lawyers’ applications to have the case declared null and void and for the judicial division specialising in combating terrorism and cross-border organised crime to relinquish jurisdiction. Tchangari’s lawyer have appealed against these rulings.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, FIDH and OMCT have called for Tchangari’s immediate and unconditional release. Amnesty International supporters have been taking action on his behalf.

In a joint press statement issued in July 2024, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and FIDH expressed their deep concern and denounced the repression carried out by Niger’s military authorities against the opposition, the media and peaceful dissent since they took power by a coup in July 2023.

In a report issued in March 2025, Amnesty International documented the clampdown on former government officials and critical voices since the coup.

For further information or to request an interview, please contact:

Amnesty International:
Press office: +44 20 7413 5566, press@amnesty.org, @amnestypress

Human Rights Watch:
For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Niger, see: https://www.hrw.org/africa/niger
Ilaria Allegrozzi, Senior Sahel researcher: +1 (646) 872-2984, allegri@hrw.org
Lewis Mudge, Central Africa Director: +1 (646) 637-3801, mudgel@hrw.org

International Federation of Human Rights:
Raphaël Lopoukhine: +33 6 72 28 42 94, rlopoukhine@fidh.org, @FIDH_fr
Maxime Duriez: +33 6 48 05 91 57, mduriez@fidh.org, @FIDH_en

World Organization Against Torture:
For more OMCT reporting on Niger, see: https://www.omct.org/en/where-...
Isidore Ngueuleu, Head of the Africa Desk: (+41) 763 741 315, icnd@omct.org, @omctorg