URGENT APPEAL: REFUGEE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS ARBITRARILY ARRESTED IN NIGER
- Refugees in Libya
- Aug 25
- 3 min read
On August 21st 2025, at approximately 10:30 a.m., a large Nigerien Gendarmerie force with several
vehicles arrived at the Humanitarian Center near Agadez, managed by UNHCR. The Gendarmerie arrived in riot gear and were accompanied by three members of the National Elections Commission (CNE) office: Mr. MK, Deputy Director, Mr. Noah, and Mr. Adam (translator). They surrounded the center, entering homes and terrorizing children and women. During the raid they violently arrested six members of the local refugee committee, well known for having organized peaceful protests for more than 300 days. They beat some of them, handcuffed them and violently threw them onto the back of pick-up trucks. They spent about 2 hours circulating the center with their vehicles, looking for other representatives and then left with the six members. The arrests were carried out without any explanation nor charges being filed. UNHCR personnel watched passively at the situation and did nothing. The current whereabouts of the arrested persons are unknown, after their arrest, we lost contact with them. The refugee human rights defenders arbitrarily detained are:
1. Mohamed Abdullah
2. Abdullah Hashim
3. Imad Younis
4. Zubaida Abdeljabbar
5. Zahra Daoud Juma
6. Hoda Musa Mohamed
These arrests happen in the context of the ongoing peaceful protest of the Refugees in Niger collective,
who organize a daily sit-in in the Agadez so-called humanitarian center to denounce the horrific living
conditions for refugees in the center and call for evacuations to safe places.
Sadly, this is not the first time UNHCR and Nigerien authorities try to repress the protests by threatening
and attacking the human rights defenders who lead them.
Eight of the human rights defenders saw their refugee status being annulled by the Nigerien CNA on July
14th. It can be seen as a reprisal for their roles in ongoing peaceful protests. On August 7th, the deputy
director of the CNA office, accompanied by police officers, threatened them with arrest unless they agreed to come with him to the police office. The officers even threatened them with a gun, stealing one of their phones in the process.
In March 2025, Nigerien authorities cracked down on all self-organized refugee groups. That meant that
the Agadez Refugee Committee was forcefully dissolved and its members arrested by security forces. Eight refugee human rights defenders were arbitrarily arrested on March 25th and detained without charges.
They were held with no food in arbitrary detention and eventually released on April 4th.
In February 2025, UNHCR cut all food rations to the refugees in the center as a reprisal for the ongoing
protests, calling “protesters to comply with calls from the authorities to engage in a dialogue”, blaming the
refugees’ behavior.
Article 15 of the Refugee Convention grants refugees the right of association. And they have the right to
protest under the International Covenant on Civic and Political Rights’ Article 21. We denounce UNHCR’s
and Niger’s actions as a repeated and blatant violation of these rights and call on them to stop harassing
refugee peaceful protesters and human rights defenders, and to listen to their legitimate demands.
We demand UNHCR and Nigerien authorities to immediately and unconditionally liberate the six arbitrarily arrested human rights defenders. We demand the reinstatement of their unjustly withdrawn refugee status and to refrain from further attacking their human rights work.
We also call on all UN bodies and Human Rights NGOs to amplify the plight of refugees in Agadez and to put pressure on UNHCR and Nigerien authorities to release the six unjustly detained refugee human rights
defenders.
Refugees in Niger
Refugees in Libya
Alliance with Refugees in Libya
Photos of the arrested human rights defenders:
Contact: info@refugeesinlibya.org
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