Niger’s junta leader, Gen. Abdourahamane Tiani, signed on June 11 a decree provisionally stripping Nigerien nationality from Mariama Djibrine, a leading opposition figure living in exile. The measure is based on a 2024 order that created a national database of people suspected of terrorism.
Authorities accuse Djibrine of disseminating “information likely to disturb public order, inciting revolt, and colluding with a foreign power.” The accusations come amid an escalating crackdown on dissent since the military seized power in July 2023.
Djibrine is the president of the Alliance des Démocrates du Sahel (Sahel Democrats’ Alliance), a coalition of Nigerien, Malian, and Burkinabè opposition groups launched in May 2026 in Belgium that advocate for a return to constitutional rule in the three central Sahel countries. During the launch of the Sahel Democrats’ Alliance, Djibrine called for the release of former President Mohamed Bazoum, who remains arbitrarily detained nearly three years after he was overthrown by the junta.
Niger’s terrorism database continues to be a tool for the government to sweep up people without sufficient evidence and deprive them of their nationality. Authorities already used the database to provisionally strip nine people linked to Bazoum of their Nigerien nationality in October 2024. Among them was Abdou Pagoui Hamidine, a former member of Bazoum’s cabinet, who told Human Rights Watch, “Niger’s military authorities have reached a new low by turning nationality into a weapon against dissent.”
In a May interview with a French television program, Djibrine accused Niger’s military authorities of instrumentalizing the justice system to silence critics and condemned the dissolution of Nigerien magistrates’ union.
Niger is a party to the United Nations Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, which prohibits states from depriving people of their nationality when doing so would leave them stateless.
Stripping people of their nationality not only violates their fundamental rights but creates a climate of fear for all who want to challenge the status quo in Niger. Journalists, activists, and ordinary people alike are forced to weigh their right to free speech against the existential threat of losing their status, identity, and security as citizens.
Nationality should not depend on political loyalty. When it becomes a pawn in the hands of those in power, the junta is demonstrating its disregard for a democratic and rights-respecting Niger.
