Ugandan Opposition Leader Kizza Besigye Collapses in Court, Now Unconscious in ICU

Opposition figure unresponsive after courtroom collapse

Kizza Besigye, Uganda's most persistent opposition figure and a four-time challenger to President Yoweri Museveni, is unconscious in an intensive care unit after collapsing during his treason trial Wednesday in Kampala.

His wife, Winnie Byanyima, who also serves as executive director of UNAIDS, said in a post on X early Thursday that her husband is in dire condition. "He is unconscious, unable to speak, and unresponsive even to a pain stimulus," she wrote, according to Reuters.

Besigye, 70, was admitted to the ICU at Mulago National Referral Hospital, Uganda's largest public medical facility, under heavy security, according to allAfrica.com. He was first taken by ambulance to Mbuya Military Hospital before being transferred to Mulago.

What happened in the courtroom

Besigye collapsed in the dock at Kampala's High Court while objecting to being represented by lawyers appointed by the court, according to allAfrica.com. Witnesses said he repeatedly interrupted proceedings before High Court judge Emmanuel Baguma, denouncing the trial as illegal and unconstitutional before losing consciousness.

Tuko.co.ke reported that Besigye had grown increasingly emotional as the hearing progressed, striking the dock while denouncing the process moments before he collapsed. His wife said on social media that he cried out about being injured just before losing consciousness, according to allAfrica.com.

Despite the collapse, the judge declined to suspend proceedings, telling Besigye he was free to leave the courtroom if he didn't want to continue, Tuko.co.ke reported.

Besigye's legal team has been gutted in the run-up to the trial. His lead counsel, Kenyan advocate Martha Karua, was barred from representing him in Uganda. Another member of his defense, former Kampala mayor Erias Lukwago, was arrested and charged with misprision of treason, essentially failing to report alleged acts of treason, according to allAfrica.com.

Access to care in dispute

Byanyima said Besigye is refusing treatment from government medical staff and has asked to be treated by his personal physician at a private clinic instead, according to allAfrica.com. That physician, his sister Dr. Olive Kobusingye, was initially barred from seeing him but was later granted access to the ICU, which remains guarded by armed security personnel.

Government spokesperson Alan Kasujja did not respond to a Reuters phone call seeking comment. Uganda Prisons Service spokesperson Frank Baine could not be reached, and judiciary spokesperson Ereemye Mawanda told Reuters he could not comment because he had not yet received details of the incident, according to Tuko.co.ke.

The bigger picture: a long detention on a capital charge

Besigye has been in custody since November 2024, when he and his aide Obeid Lutale were arrested in Kenya and returned to Uganda. The charges against them were initially heard by a military tribunal before being shifted to a civilian court and amended to treason, an offense that carries the death penalty under Ugandan law, according to allAfrica.com. Both men deny the charges.

His lawyers, supporters, and rights activists say the case is politically motivated and part of a broader crackdown by Museveni, 81, on his opponents. No independent tribunal or international body has adjudicated that claim, and Ugandan authorities have not publicly conceded it. The timeline is documented: Besigye was arrested abroad, extradited, tried first in a military court, then moved to a civilian one, with the charge upgraded to something that could carry a death sentence.

Besigye, a former physician who once served as a military aide to Museveni during the 1980s guerrilla war that put him in power, later became the president's most durable political rival, running against him in four separate presidential elections, according to allAfrica.com.

Concerns about his health are not new. Tuko.co.ke reported that Besigye was hospitalized in February after launching a hunger strike to protest his detention, and that his family and supporters have repeatedly raised alarms about his wellbeing since.

The political backdrop

Museveni was declared the winner of Uganda's most recent presidential election in January, though runner-up Bobi Wine rejected the results and has since gone into exile in the United States, according to Reuters. That dispute remains unresolved, and Uganda's electoral commission has not faced an independent audit that either side has accepted as legitimate.

As of Thursday, no hospital or government official has issued an update on Besigye's condition beyond his wife's account. Whether he regains consciousness and whether his trial proceeds in his absence remain immediate open questions.