A detained member of the Ugandan opposition is unconscious and in critical care, according to his wife
Kizza Besigye, a prominent member of the Ugandan opposition, passed out in court on Wednesday and has been taken to an intensive care unit, his wife said in an early Thursday morning X post.
Besige, who is 70 years old, passed out in court in Kampala, the city, where he is being tried for treason. An ambulance took him away.
In a post on the X platform, Winnie Byanyima, who is also in charge of UNAIDS, said that her husband had been taken to the ICU at Mulago National Referral Hospital in the city. “He is unconscious, unable to speak, and unaware of any pain,” she wrote.
Alan Kasujja, a spokesman for the government, did not answer a call from Reuters for comment.
In November 2024, Besigye and his assistant Obeid Lutale were arrested in neighboring Kenya and sent back to Uganda, where they were charged with treason. He has been in jail ever since.
His lawyers, supporters, and human rights activists say that the charges are politically motivated and that the long time he has been detained is part of President Yoweri Museveni’s ongoing crackdown on people who don’t agree with him.
Museveni, who is 81 years old, was declared the winner of the January election, but Bobi Wine, who came in second, rejected the results. Wine has since left Uganda and is living in exile in the United States.
