Kizza Besigye, 70, has been admitted to the intensive‑care unit of Kampala’s Mulago National Referral Hospital after collapsing unconscious during a hearing for treason charges.
The veteran opposition figure – who has contested President Yoweri Museveni four times and was once the president’s personal doctor – was heard repeatedly shouting for an end to government‑appointed counsel before the crash.
According to his wife, former head of UNAIDS Winnie Byanyima, Besigye was unresponsive and refused to allow any government official to touch him. She demanded that his private physician and sister, Dr. Olive Kobusingye, be permitted to treat him at a private clinic rather than within the hospital’s public ward.
Besigye has been in detention since November 2024. His chief lawyer, Erias Lukwago, was seized by the army last month and is currently imprisoned, while Kenyan lawyer Martha Karua was barred from entering Uganda after flying in to represent him.
The Kenyan‑born senator’s son, Adam Ampa, has appealed to President Museveni and Army Chief Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba to show mercy, calling his father’s situation a humanitarian crisis that should not be politicised.
Observers note that treason remains a capital offence in Uganda, a point under intense scrutiny as Besigye’s fate hangs amid a broader crackdown on dissenting voices. The case illustrates the precarious position of opposition leaders in a regime that has tightened its grip on power for decades.
