Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye was sent back to prison on Friday, August 7, more than a week after collapsing in court, despite medical advice against the move, his wife said.
Besigye, a former personal physician to President Yoweri Museveni, has been a target of Ugandan authorities since joining the opposition more than 25 years ago.
Museveni has ruled Uganda for over 40 years.
He was abducted in November 2024 during a trip to Kenya and later brought before courts on treason charges, accused of plotting against Museveni.
Collapse in Court, Rushed Return to Prison
Besigye was admitted to intensive care in Kampala after collapsing during a hearing on July 30.
Just before collapsing, he had criticised the court’s decision to impose lawyers on him after his main counsel, Erik Lukwago, was arrested, and his other lawyer, former Kenyan minister Martha Karua, was barred from entering Uganda.
His wife, UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima, said he was taken back to Kampala’s Luzira Prison after 7 p.m. Friday.
“I am shocked and deeply distressed,” she wrote on X. “My partner @kizzabesigye1 was bundled up and taken back to Luzira Prison.”
“Why the rush to return a seriously ill man to prison before he can walk, talk or feed himself?” she asked. “Who gave this order, and why was medical judgment overridden?
Taking a helpless patient from where he can receive rehabilitation and family assistance, and returning him to a prison that cannot support his condition, is cruel.”
Part of a Wider Crackdown
Uganda has intensified its crackdown on opposition figures, lawyers and independent media in recent months.
Besigye has been hospitalised three times since his detention began, briefly in February 2025 following a hunger strike, and again earlier this year.
Byanyima has repeatedly criticised the conditions of his detention as inhumane and has alleged there is a plot to kill him.