Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye's health deteriorating in custody
Kizza Besigye, a key opposition leader in Uganda, is being treated in intensive care after collapsing during a court session in Kampala. According to his wife, Winnie Byanyima, the 70-year-old is now unconscious, non-responsive, and cannot speak. She made these claims in a post on social media platform X on Thursday.
Besigye has been held in prison since November 2024, facing treason charges linked to alleged plans to overthrow the government. He was taken to the Mulago National Referral Hospital in the capital, Kampala, after collapsing in court on Wednesday. The hospital is the nation's top public health facility, and Besigye has since been in its intensive care unit.
Family pushes for better medical care
Byanyima, who also serves as the head of the United Nations AIDS programme UNAIDS, has urged the court to allow Besigye to be moved to a private hospital. She argues that he requires specialized care and that his personal physician should be involved. Al Jazeera reporter Catherine Soi noted from Nairobi that the court has not yet approved the transfer, leaving the family frustrated.
Ingrid Turinawe, a close advisor to Besigye, confirmed that no family members were permitted to visit him at Mulago hospital. She added that Besigye's personal doctor was able to see him several hours after the collapse. Besigye's family has raised concerns about their trust in the government hospital's ability to provide adequate treatment.
Charges and political tensions
Besigye and his assistant, Obeid Lutale, were arrested in Kenya in late 2024 and later repatriated to Uganda. Both were charged with treason, a claim Besigye's lawyers, supporters, and human rights groups say is politically motivated. They accuse the government of using the charges to suppress political opposition. Besigye fell in the dock on Wednesday while protesting his trial without lawyers of his own choosing, after authorities detained his main attorney, Erias Lukwago, and charged him with alleged failure to report acts of treason.
President Yoweri Museveni and his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, a senior military official, have publicly opposed Besigye. Kainerugaba has labeled the opposition leader 'a dead man walking,' while Museveni insists that Besigye must answer for 'serious offences' he is alleged to have planned. The case against Besigye is controversial as Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni and his son, military chief Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, have already weighed in against him. Kainerugaba, alleging that Besigye plotted to kill his father, has previously described the opposition figure as “a dead man walking.” And Museveni himself has said Besigye must answer for “the very serious offenses he is alleged to have been planning.
Prosecutors in the case have recently begun presenting evidence they claim shows Besigye and others conspired to overthrow Museveni's government. The president, 81, was reelected in January, though the results were contested by Bobi Wine, who later fled to the United States. Wine, who is also running for president in 2026, claims the election results were not credible. Besigye, once Uganda’s most prominent opposition figure, last contested the presidency in 2016, later saying that elections were a waste of time in a country with an authoritarian leader who depends more on the armed forces. Besigye went missing in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, in November 2024 but was later presented before a military tribunal in Kampala to face charges related to threatening national security. The criminal case was transferred to a civilian court and the charge amended to treason, which carries the death penalty.
Besigye's arrest and trial have become a symbol of the government's continued crackdown on political opponents. His legal team argues that he has not been allowed to choose his own lawyers, and that his ongoing detention violates his rights. His supporters say the situation raises concerns about the health and safety of political prisoners in Uganda.