RFK Human Rights condemns the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of Chadian opposition political leader Dr. Succès Masra. We strongly urge the government of Chad to respect Dr. Masra’s rights to liberty, fair trial, and freedoms of expression and association, and to desist from attacks on opposition political parties and movements, in line with international and regional human rights law.  

On May 16, 2025, a CCTV video emerged showing Masra being led out of his home by members of the Chadian security forces. He has since then been detained on charges connected with a 2023 statement attributed to him, which the Government claims led to attacks in the Western Logone province on May 14, 2025. Following his detention, the Government denied a request for international lawyers to join Dr. Masra’s legal team, and the court recently denied his application for provisional release. 

Dr. Masra has been a vocal critic of President Mahamat Idriss Déby since April 2021, when the then-General Idriss Déby declared himself interim leader following the death of his father, President Idriss Déby Itno. Masra and his supporters joined the nationwide protests against the unconstitutional takeover of power. These protests were violently repressed, leading to the death of many Chadians and Dr. Masra’s eventual exile from Chad in 2022. He returned to the country in November 2023 after negotiations with the General Mahamat Idriss Déby-led junta and was appointed Prime Minister in January 2024. He resigned from his role as Prime Minister after Mahamat Idriss Déby was declared the winner of the May 2024 elections. These elections were marred by violence, including the killing of an opposition figure, Yaya Dillo, during a raid of his office by state security operatives. 

Dr. Masra’s political party, Les Transformateurs, has rejected the accusations linking him to the Western Logone attacks and accuses the Government of taking Dr. Masra’s comments out of context and using them to persecute him for political reasons. The same accusations were reportedly used earlier as the basis for an international arrest warrant, which was rescinded following negotiations with the junta and a general amnesty granted to protesters in late 2023. Dr. Masra recently underwent a  7-day hunger strike to protest his over 40-day detention.