Niger: Junta Strips 5 More Exiled Critics of Nationality

Niger's junta has provisionally stripped five more exiled opposition figures of their nationality, extending a policy increasingly used against critics of the military authorities, according to Human Rights Watch. On September 17, 2026, Gen. Abdourahamane Tiani, who has led the junta since the July 2023 coup, signed a decree removing the nationality of five prominent Nigeriens living in exile. The decree derives authority from a 2024 order creating a national terrorism database with overbroad inclusion criteria and inadequate due process requirements. Human Rights Watch stated that the order jeopardizes privacy and data protection rights and increases the risk of statelessness. Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the use of a terrorism database to deprive people of nationality without meaningful legal safeguards raises serious human rights concerns.

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