Kizza Besigye in intensive care in Kampala

Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye is in intensive care at Mulago Hospital in Kampala, his wife and a hospital spokeswoman said Thursday, after he collapsed during a court appearance.

Besigye, 70, has been in custody and is facing treason charges over an alleged plot against President Yoweri Museveni.

His wife, Winnie Byanyima, the executive director of UNAIDS, wrote on X that Besigye was unconscious, unable to speak and unresponsive even to a pain stimulus.

Gladys Baligonzaki Kajura, a spokeswoman for Mulago Hospital, confirmed to AFP that Besigye had been admitted. She said he was in the intensive care unit, had been admitted on Wednesday evening and that his condition was being managed.

A medical source, speaking anonymously, said Besigye was in critical condition and unresponsive.

At Wednesday's court appearance, Besigye had rejected state-appointed lawyers and became angry when his own representatives were refused before he collapsed. One of his defence lawyers, former Kampala mayor Erias Lukwago, was arrested before the collapse, while another, former Kenyan justice minister Martha Karua, was barred from entering Uganda.

Besigye, a former personal physician to Museveni, has been an opposition figure for more than 25 years. AFP reported that he was abducted in Kenya in 2024 and reappeared in Uganda, where he was brought before a military tribunal before the case was transferred to a civilian court.

It is the third time Besigye has been taken to hospital since his detention. He was admitted briefly in February 2025 after a hunger strike and again earlier this year. Byanyima has repeatedly criticised his detention conditions as inhumane and alleged a plot to kill him.