KAMPALA, Feb 12 — Kizza Besigye, a prominent Ugandan opposition figure, is reportedly on hunger strike while in detention, his wife, Winnie Byanyima, said. Besigye, who is facing trial in a military court, was arrested in Kenya in November and charged with illegal possession of firearms and treason, crimes that could lead to the death penalty.
The reported hunger strike comes two weeks after Uganda’s Supreme Court ruled that courts-martial should not try civilians, a decision President Yoweri Museveni’s government has rejected. Despite the ruling, the government has vowed to continue prosecuting civilians in military courts.
Byanyima, the executive director of UNAIDS, wrote on social media that her husband was being “illegally detained by a regime that fears his defiance more than it respects the law.” She said Besigye’s spirit remains unbroken despite efforts by the government to suppress him.
Uganda’s prisons spokesperson, Frank Baine, denied the claim, stating that Besigye is “OK” and not on a hunger strike. Besigye, a former personal doctor to President Museveni during the 1980s bush war, has been a vocal critic of the government, running against Museveni in four presidential elections. Besigye has rejected the results of all these elections, citing irregularities.
