Winnie Byanyima, wife of Uganda’s opposition figure Dr Kizza Besigye, has publicly pleaded for her husband’s immediate release, citing serious health concerns after over a year in detention.
Byanyima recounted a distressing episode last night when Dr Besigye’s condition sharply worsened.
She said he was rushed to the clinic of his personal doctor after experiencing severe abdominal pain, high fever, and extreme weakness.
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She added that prison authorities failed to notify her, forcing her to rush to the clinic independently.
“When I saw him, Dr Besigye was extremely weak, shaking, running a high temperature, and in severe pain,” she wrote.
Following treatment, Dr Besigye was reportedly returned to prison under strict military supervision rather than through civilian channels.
Byanyima described harsh detention conditions, including solitary confinement, lack of sunlight, bedbug-infested bedding, and restrictions on physical activity and worship.
She said he has been denied bail four times and limited to a poorly equipped prison sick bay despite worsening illness.
The prison spokesperson’s public denial of his illness, she claimed, was false and misleading.
The opposition leader’s wife accused authorities of deliberately withholding proper medical care while attempting to conceal his health from the public.
She warned that political pressure and threats have been used to silence information about his condition, a practice she described as “blackmail.”
“He is innocent, and these political games must stop. His life is at grave risk,” she wrote.
The revelations have intensified international attention on Uganda’s treatment of opposition leaders and the broader human rights concerns under President Yoweri Museveni’s government.