Dozens of people have been arrested in Niger as authorities intensify a crackdown on the LGBTQ+ community following the country’s recent criminalisation of same-sex intimacy.
The Guardian described the operation as a “witch-hunt”, reporting that around 40 people have been arrested, including 16 men who have been jailed across the West African country.
A source told the newspaper that “LGBTQ+ populations are keeping a low profile and have gone into hiding because they are at risk. We have lost contact with many and the recent arrests have exacerbated tensions.”
Senior Officials Among Those Arrested
According to local media reports, several of those taken into custody are high-ranking customs and police officials.
Another source told Reuters that “The operation is ongoing” and will target facilities where people of the same sex live together, including army barracks and college campuses.
New Anti-LGBTQ+ Law Drives Arrests
The arrests come as Niger begins enforcing recent amendments to its penal code which introduced provisions targeting LGBTQ+ people for the first time in the country’s history.
Under the new code, anyone who “commits or attempts to commit an immodest or unnatural act or practices lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-gender, Queer, intersex, Asexual (LGBTQIA+) acts” faces between five and ten years’ imprisonment, in addition to a fine.
The code also imposes the same penalty on anyone who “artificially changes or attempts to change their birth sex” and provides for up to 20 years’ imprisonment for anyone who attempts to enter into a same-sex marriage.
Human Rights Concerns Mount
People who operate LGBTQ+ organisations also face fines and prison sentences. Reports indicate that organisations providing HIV services have also been affected by the crackdown.
Human rights organisation Front Line Defenders said the new provisions raise serious concerns because of the severity of the penalties, the vague wording of the law and the broad range of conduct it criminalises.
“The legislation interferes with fundamental rights, including the rights to privacy, equality, non-discrimination, freedom of expression, and family life,” the organisation stated.
Niger’s new penal code forms part of a growing wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation in West Africa. Mali criminalised homosexuality in late 2024, followed by Burkina Faso in 2025.
More recently, Senegal adopted a harsh anti-LGBTQ+ law in March, while Ghana’s Parliament passed its own sweeping anti-LGBTQ bill in May.
