THE life of Uganda’s veteran opposition figure Kizza Besigye is in danger, his wife has said after visiting him in prison.
”He is extremely weak,” said Winnie Byanyima in a statement posted on X. The 69-year-old politician had been taken overnight to a medical facility, the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) party said, without specifying what he was suffering from.
A prison service spokesperson denied that Besigye’s health was dire, describing his visit to a doctor as a “general check-up”.
Besigye, a former personal doctor to President Yoweri Museveni and one of his longest-standing political rivals, has been in detention since November 2024.
”Dr Besigye told me he is finding it difficult to walk and is experiencing significant pain in his legs,” said Byanyima, a respected human rights advocate and head of UNAids. She said he had an infection that was worsening without giving further details.
Byanyima described how she had found him “huddled” on a dirty plastic chair in a small room near his cell, where he has been returned after getting medical treatment overnight.
Besigye, who has run for president against Museveni four times, has been in detention with his associate Obeid Lutale since they were both dramatically seized in Kenya and taken back to Uganda.
The PFF leader has been charged in a military court with treason, which carries the death sentence, as well as illegal possession of a firearm and threatening national security. He denies the accusations.
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Last month, a court denied them bail for the fourth time, saying it was too early to release them as they had not yet entered their pleas.
In a statement on Tuesday, the PFF accused Ugandan authorities of denying Besigye proper medical care, noting that his continued detention amounted to a violation of his basic rights.
“It is a tragedy that a man who has dedicated his life to the health and freedom of others is being denied his own right to medical dignity,” the PFF said, adding: “We hold the regime and the prison authorities fully accountable for his well-being.”
