Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye has been rushed to hospital from Luzira Prison after his health deteriorated again, his wife Winnie Byanyima confirmed on Friday, August 28.
Byanyima said Besigye was transferred after dark to the Joint Clinical Research Centre off Entebbe Road, approximately 10 kilometres from Kampala.
“After dark, Dr Kizza Besigye was moved from Luzira Prison to JCRC hospital today. He is still very weak. He struggles to walk, speak, write or even hold anything steadily,” she said.
The 70-year-old former presidential candidate has been in steady decline since collapsing in the dock at the High Court in Kampala on July 29 during proceedings in his treason case.
He was rushed by ambulance to the Intensive Care Unit at Mulago National Referral Hospital, where his family said he remained unconscious and unresponsive to pain stimuli for several days before his condition showed some improvement.
After spending approximately 10 days at Mulago, Besigye was controversially returned to Luzira Prison on August 7, against the advice of his medical team and despite being unable to walk or speak, where he is said to have subsequently staged a hunger strike.
His condition continued to cause alarm in the weeks that followed, prompting Friday’s emergency transfer.
His family has appealed to Ugandan authorities to allow Besigye to travel to Geneva, Switzerland, for urgent specialised medical care, and has raised concerns over chronic complications affecting his lungs and spine, which they say have been worsened by prison conditions.
Byanyima has been vocal in her frustration over her husband’s treatment.
“He has been arrested more than 50 times. He has faced case after case. He has never run away from justice. Why drag a sick man from place to place? Why deny him the care of his family? Why force a trial on a man too ill to defend himself?” she said.
Besigye has been in continuous detention since November 2024, when he was abducted in Nairobi, Kenya, and brought to Uganda.
He faces treason charges which he denies.
