Besigye hospitalised after collapsing in court

Kizza Besigye was abducted in Kenya in November 2024 and later resurfaced in Uganda, where he was charged with treason.

Jailed Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye was taken to hospital again on Wednesday after collapsing in court, his wife said.

Besigye, 70, was once the personal doctor of President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled Uganda for more than four decades, before becoming one of his most prominent political rivals.

He was abducted in neighbouring Kenya in November 2024 and later resurfaced in Uganda, where he was charged with treason over an alleged plot against Museveni.

The case was initially heard by a military court before Uganda's highest court ruled he should be tried in civilian court.

On Wednesday, Besigye had just rejected state-appointed lawyers -- visibly angered after his own were barred from representing him -- when he collapsed in the courtroom, an AFP reporter saw.

His wife, Winnie Byanyima, executive director of UNAIDS, said on X that he had been taken to hospital in Kampala.

His personal doctor "is concerned about his health", she added.

Byanyima added that Besigye had "insisted NOT to be treated at a govt hospital" because he "does not trust any institution under the control of Museveni or his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the army chief widely seen as his designated successor.

It is the third time Besigye has been hospitalised 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.

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