Ugandan opposition leader Besigye in intensive care: wife

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

At a court appearance on Wednesday, he had just rejected state-appointed lawyers and was angered when his own representatives were refused when he collapsed.

His wife Winnie Byanyima, who is the executive director of UNAIDS, wrote on X: "He has been admitted to the ICU at Mulago Hospital (in Kampala).

"He is unconscious, unable to speak, and unresponsive even to a pain stimulus."

A spokeswoman for the hospital, Gladys Baligonzaki Kajura, confirmed to AFP that Besigye had been admitted.

"He is at the intensive care unit. He was admitted last evening and his condition is being managed," she added, without elaborating.

A medical source said under condition of anonymity that he was taken to hospital on Wednesday evening and said he was in a "critical condition and unresponsive".

Besigye, a former personal physician to Museveni, has been in the government's crosshairs since he joined the opposition more than 25 years ago.

He was abducted in neighbouring Kenya in 2024 and reappeared in Uganda, where he was brought before a military tribunal until the case was transferred to a civilian court.

Before he collapsed, one of his defence lawyers -- the former mayor of Kampala Erias Lukwago -- was arrested while the other, former justice minister Martha Karua, was banned from entering the country.

Uganda has imposed a widening crackdown on opposition figures, lawyers and independent media in recent months.

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.

His wife has repeatedly criticised his detention conditions, describing them as inhumane and alleging a plot to kill him.