Ugandan opposition leader Besigye unconscious in ICU after collapsing in court

His wife Winnie Byanyima, who also heads ⁠the United Nations AIDS programme, posted on social media early on Thursday that her husband had been admitted to an intensive care unit in the capital.

"Our leader Kizza Besigye has been put in ICU at Mulago Hospital. His condition has deteriorated... Pray for Besigye. The regime & Baguma want him dead." she wrote on X – referring to President Yoweri Museveni and the judge at the trial, Justice Emmanuel Baguma.

"He is unconscious, unable to speak, and unresponsive even to a pain stimulus," she wrote.

Besigye, 70, collapsed in a court in the capital Kampala where he is standing trial for treason. He was taken away in an ambulance.

On Wednesday evening, his wife had posted: "I am demanding that my spouse Dr Kizza Besigye is taken to see his personal doctor at her clinic in Bugolobi NOW," she wrote. "He has collapsed in court and was returned to prison. His doctor is concerned about his health."

It is the third time Besigye has been hospitalised since his detention. He was admitted to hospital briefly in February 2025 after a hunger strike and again earlier this year.

Government spokesperson Alan Kasujja did not answer media calls for comment.

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Besigye has been in custody since November 2024 after he was detained together with his aide Obeid Lutale in neighbouring Kenya. Both were later repatriated to Uganda where they were subsequently charged with treason.

The case was initially heard by a military court before Uganda's highest court ruled he should be tried in civilian court.

On Wednesday, Besigye had rejected state-appointed lawyers, after his own were barred from representing him.

His lawyers, supporters and rights activists say that the charges are politically motivated and that his prolonged detention is part of an ongoing crackdown on opponents by long-ruling President Museveni.

Museveni, 81, was declared winner of the last election in January although the results were rejected by runner-up Bobi Wine, who has since gone into exile in the United States.

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Since then, his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, also the army chief, has been gaining power, pursuing opponents and journalists.

In late June, he shut down the most prominent media outlets in Uganda, ordering the military shutdown of the Nation Media Group headquarters in Kampala. The move has drawn widespread criticism.

Museveni this week authorised the resumption of the group's operations in the country.

(with newswires)