Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye was rushed back to hospital from Luzira Prison on Friday night, August 28, as his health continued to deteriorate, his wife, Winnie Byanyima, has said.
Byanyima said Besigye was moved after dark to the Joint Clinical Research Centre (JCRC) Hospital off Entebbe Road, about 10 kilometres from Kampala, marking his fourth hospital admission since his arrest.
“After dark, Dr Kizza Besigye was moved from Luzira Prison to JCRC hospital today. He is still very weak. He struggles to walk, speak, write or even hold anything steadily,” Byanyima said.
The 70-year-old former presidential candidate, once Museveni’s personal physician before becoming his fiercest political rival, has been detained since November 2024, when he was abducted in Nairobi, Kenya, and extradited to Uganda to face treason charges he denies.
His condition has steadily worsened since he collapsed in the dock during a High Court hearing in Kampala on July 29. He was rushed to the Intensive Care Unit at Mulago National Referral Hospital, where his family said he remained unconscious and unresponsive to pain stimuli for several days before showing some improvement.
After about 10 days at Mulago, Besigye was returned to Luzira Prison on August 7 against his medical team’s advice, despite being unable to walk or speak, and is said to have staged a hunger strike afterward.
His family has raised concerns over chronic complications affecting his lungs and spine, which they say have worsened due to prison conditions. Byanyima renewed her appeal for him to be allowed to travel to Geneva, Switzerland, for specialised care.
“I am asking for one thing – let me bring him home to Geneva for proper medical care, surrounded by his family,” she said.
She questioned the continued movement of her ailing husband between facilities and the decision to press on with his trial despite his condition.
“Why drag a sick man from place to place? Why deny him the care of his family? Why force a trial on a man too ill to defend himself?” she posed, adding, “He needs care, not cruelty. This is not justice. It is persecution.”
Byanyima maintained that seeking treatment abroad would not amount to evading justice, noting that Besigye has faced more than 50 arrests over the years and has never fled prosecution. A Ugandan court had earlier, in January, declined a request to transfer him to a facility of his choice, with the judge citing no indication that prison authorities could not manage his condition.
