Uganda Opposition Leader Besigye Begins Hunger Strike

A well-known opposition leader in Uganda, who is currently being tried in a military court, has started a hunger strike, according to his wife. This comes two weeks after Uganda’s Supreme Court ruled that civilians should not be tried by military tribunals. Despite this, President Yoweri Museveni stated that his government would continue prosecuting civilians in military courts. A representative from Uganda’s prisons has denied the claim that Kizza Besigye is on a hunger strike.
Besigye, a long-time critic of Museveni, was arrested in neighboring Kenya in November, which a senior Kenyan official called an abduction. He was later returned to Uganda, where he was charged with illegal firearm possession and treason, offenses that could lead to the death penalty.
Besigye’s wife, Winnie Byanyima, who is also the executive director of UNAIDS, expressed on social media that her husband is on hunger strike, imprisoned by a government that fears his resistance more than it values the rule of law. She added that despite the regime’s efforts to break his spirit, Besigye remains determined and will not submit to injustice.
However, Frank Baine, a spokesperson for Uganda’s prisons, rejected the hunger strike claims made by Besigye’s wife.
Besigye previously served as Museveni’s personal doctor during the 1980s bush war, but the two eventually had a falling out. Besigye has contested Museveni in four presidential elections, all of which he lost, rejecting the results due to alleged irregularities that authorities denied. Human rights advocates have accused Museveni’s government of widespread abuses, including torture and unlawful detention, though the government has consistently denied these allegations.