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Winnie Byanyima said her husband Kizza Besigye remained unconscious, unable to speak and unresponsive even to a pain stimulus after the incident at the High Court in Kampala. The 70-year-old politician had been visibly frail as he protested the appointment of state lawyers to represent him during the hearing. Byanyima, who heads UNAids, added that Besigye cried out he was being injured before he collapsed, with prison guards then rushing him to hospital in an ambulance. His sister, a doctor who was present in court, was initially not permitted to attend to him though reports indicate she has since been allowed to visit him in the guarded ICU wing.
According to a Reuters report from June, Besigye’s lead lawyer Erias Lukwago was charged with a treason-related offence after his own arrest by security forces and has been held in custody. Kenyan lawyer Martha Karua, another member of the defence team, was barred from entering Uganda last month when she attempted to join the case. The proceedings against Besigye stem from allegations that he and his aide Obeid Lutale plotted to overthrow the government, charges both men deny even as treason carries the death penalty under Ugandan law.
Besigye was abducted in Nairobi in November 2024 and returned to Uganda, where he has been detained since, Al Jazeera reported at the time of his initial military court appearance. An Associated Press account detailed how his case shifted to civilian court after the Supreme Court ruled military trials of civilians unconstitutional in January 2025. Human Rights Watch noted in its World Report 2026 that at least 44 other civilians, mostly opposition supporters, had faced similar military proceedings prior to that ban, many linked to events surrounding the 2021 elections.
The former personal physician to President Yoweri Museveni broke ranks with him in 1999 and went on to challenge the long-serving leader in four presidential elections. Besigye has been less visible in recent political contests, including the 2021 vote, but maintained his criticism of Museveni’s rule which began in 1986. A pattern of arrests and legal actions against him has marked much of the past two decades, with the latest charges escalating after his removal from Kenya.
Besigye’s son Adam Ampa issued an open letter appealing directly to Museveni and army chief Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba for his father’s humanitarian release. “Regardless of politics, no son should have to witness his father reach such a state while standing before the very law he served and dedicated his life,” Ampa wrote in the message shared on social media. Opposition politician Bobi Wine, who fled Uganda after the January presidential election, described Besigye’s court appearance while unwell as a shocking violation of his most basic rights.
Human Rights Watch has raised alarms over a surge in arbitrary arrests across Uganda, accusing authorities of using security forces and the legal system to target critics, opposition figures and journalists. A Reuters dispatch from January detailed how 2,000 opposition supporters were detained and 30 killed in the wake of the disputed 2026 election that returned Museveni to power for a seventh term. The rights group has repeatedly called for the release of Besigye and others held in similar circumstances, citing concerns over fair trial standards and conditions of detention.
