Hunger-striking Uganda opposition figure Besigye appears in court

Hunger-striking Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye appeared in court on Friday looking frail, his supporters said, after one of his lawyers described him as "critically ill".

Besigye, 68, is a leading opponent of the country's President Yoweri Museveni, in power for nearly 40 years, whom he has challenged unsuccessfully in four elections.

On trial for "threatening national security", Besigye went on hunger strike on February 10 to protest his detention, his lawyer Erias Lukwago said.

Lukwago said on Thursday that Besigye was too ill to leave his cell but on Friday the prisoner appeared in a civilian court for a hearing in a separate case.

"He was in a sorry state," Doreen Kyanjura, deputy mayor of Kampala and a member of Besigye's PFF party, told AFP.

"He appeared very weak, frail, and on one occasion gasped for breath and we broke into tears."

Besigye appeared alongside his political ally Samuel Lubega Mukaaku, for allegedly inciting violence when the two led a protest against high commodity prices in 2022.

He missed a court appearance on Tuesday after sending a handwritten note saying he was ill.

"If he is not released from detention, he will die," Lukwago told AFP.

Uganda prisons spokesman Frank Baine told AFP: "True, Besigye is not feeling well at the moment, but his medical condition is being managed by our medical team and there is no cause for alarm."

Besigye was abducted in Kenya in November and has been facing the death penalty on treason charges in a court martial that his wife, UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima, has called a "sham".

The UN and several rights organisations have voiced their concern about the suppression of the political opposition in Uganda in the run-up to the 2026 presidential elections.

Rights group Amnesty International branded Besigye's case a "travesty of justice".