Besigye a veteran dissident and former presidential candidate is reportedly in a critical and deteriorating state after over 350 days in detention without trial.
This latest crisis unfolded overnight on January 20, 2026, when Besigye was allegedly rushed from Luzira Prison to a medical facility at Bugolobi Village Mall under heavy security according to a statement from his party the People’s Front for Freedom.
Byanyima's allegations echo a pattern of what critics call deliberate neglect.
It is a tragedy that a man who has dedicated his life to the health and freedom of others is being denied his own right to medical dignity the PFF declared, holding the regime accountable and demanding immediate unrestricted access for Besigye's doctors and family.
Besigye 68 a former personal physician to President Yoweri Museveni has faced repeated arrests since challenging Museveni in four elections.
His current ordeal stems from a November 2024 abduction in Nairobi, Kenya leading to treason charges in a Ugandan military court a process ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court last year.
This isn't Besigye's first health scare behind bars.
In February 2025 he embarked on a week-long hunger strike protesting his detention collapsing and requiring overnight treatment at a private clinic.
Opposition leader Bobi Wine described him then as actually dying unable to leave his bed while Byanyima slammed a government minister's prison visit as highly suspicious labeling officials as captors rather than caregivers.
Despite Museveni's past dismissal of such protests as unprincipled blackmail insisting prison hospitals suffice, calls for Besigye's release on medical grounds have intensified from human rights groups and the Ugandan Medical Association.
Byanyima who visited Besigye in his cramped dimly lit cell in 2025 describing it as a special prison for suspected terrorists with multiple locked doors has consistently decried the conditions as humiliating and life-threatening.
Reports from allies indicate further restrictions, including denied food from trusted sources and isolation from other inmates fueling fears of a deliberate push toward starvation.
As Besigye's case adjourns to January 21, 2026 the international community watches closely.
Byanyima's plea underscores a broader fight against authoritarianism this persecution must end.
With Museveni in power since 1986 Besigye's plight symbolizes the high cost of dissent in Uganda where justice often bends to political will.
