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Male Deogratius
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Uganda’s veteran opposition figure Dr Kizza Besigye remains in a fragile condition despite showing slight improvement, according to his wife Winnie Byanyima, who visited him at Luzira Maximum Security Prison last Friday.
In a statement posted on X, Byanyima said Besigye was too weak to walk from his cell to the visitors’ reception and had to be seen in a small office next to his cell.
He was unable to walk from his cell to the visitors’ reception. I had to hold back tears as I watched him slowly make his way back afterwards, clinging to the walls to avoid falling, returning to an oven-hot, dark, bedbug-infested cell,” she said.
Byanyima noted that by Friday, Besigye had begun responding, slowly and painfully to treatment. She expressed gratitude to his personal doctor, who has been making repeated trips to the prison to attend to him.
“We are very grateful to his personal doctor, who has been braving traffic and repeatedly driving to Luzira Maximum Security Prison to check on him, because prison officials have refused to take him to the private clinic where full and proper medical care can be provided,” she said.
According to Byanyima, Besigye had eaten only a small piece of yam and half an avocado over an eight-hour period.
“This is not care. This is punishment,” she remarked.
She accused authorities of deliberately denying Besigye the medical care he needs, saying the conditions under which he is being held are unhealthy and dangerous to his recovery.
“Dr Kizza Besigye is being deliberately denied the medical care he trusts and requires. He should not be held in squalid, unhealthy conditions that endanger his recovery and his life. He should be under the care of his family and his personal doctor not abandoned to neglect behind prison walls,” she said.
Byanyima questioned why Besigye, who is presumed innocent under the law, continues to be treated with what she described as cruelty and inhumanity, noting that he has been denied bail four times.
She further held President Yoweri Museveni and his son, the Chief of Defence Forces, responsible for Besigye’s condition.
“We demand his immediate release on bail. We demand access to proper medical care now. We demand an end to the deliberate cruelty being inflicted on him,” she said.
Byanyima also commended Besigye’s legal team and supporters for their continued moral and material support.
“Fellow Ugandan’s, medical professionals, religious leaders, and the international community do not look away. Silence will make you complicit. Dr Kizza Besigye’s life matters. His rights matter,” she added.
Besigye, a former personal doctor to President Museveni and one of his longest-standing political rivals, has been in detention since November 2024.
He was arrested alongside his associate Obeid Lutale after the two were seized in Kenya and returned to Uganda.
The People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) leader has been charged in a military court with treason, an offence that carries the death penalty, as well as illegal possession of a firearm and threatening national security. He has denied all the charges.
This is not the first time Besigye has reportedly fallen ill while detained at Luzira Prison. In February last year, he was said to be critically ill after going on a hunger strike demanding justice.
Besigye, who last contested the presidency in 2016 after running against Museveni four times, has accused authorities of political persecution. In recent years, he has been less active in politics and did not contest the most recent general election.
There have been growing calls from his family, opposition leaders, and human rights groups for his release on medical grounds. President Museveni has previously blamed Besigye and his legal team for delays in the trial, which he said had contributed to his continued detention.
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