I Nearly Shed Tears Watching Him: Winnie Byanyima Painfully Narrates Worrying Besigye Health Condition in Oven-Hot Prison Cell

Winnie Byanyima, Dr. Kizza Besigye’s wife, has sounded the alarm over his deteriorating health in Luzira Maximum Security Prison.

After visiting Besigye in prison, Byanyima says she found her husband extremely weak, struggling to walk, and eating very little – just a small piece of yam and half an avocado in eight hours.

The Conditions are Appalling

Byanyima described the prison cell as an “oven-hot, dark, bedbug-infested cell” that is endangering his recovery and life.

She is outraged that he is being denied proper medical care and bail, despite being innocent until proven guilty.

A Call to Action

Byanyima is demanding Besigye’s immediate release on bail, access to proper medical care, and an end to the cruelty.

She holds President Museveni and his son accountable for Besigye’s suffering, and has urged the international community and Ugandans are to speak out against Besigye’s tribulations.

She adds that Besigye’s health is reportedly worsening, with symptoms including high temperature, stomach pain, dehydration, and inability to walk.

His personal doctor is providing care, but prison officials refuse to transfer him to a private clinic.

Here is Winnie Byanyima’s full statement on Dr Kizza Besigye’s health condition

When I visited Dr Kizza Besigye on Friday last week, he was beginning to respond, slowly and painfully, to treatment.

We are very grateful to his personal doctor, who has been braving traffic and repeatedly driving to Luzira Maximum Security Prison to check on him, because prison officials have refused to take him to the private clinic where full and proper medical care can be provided.

Despite this slight improvement, KB remains extremely weak. He was unable to walk from his cell to the visitors’ reception. I met him in a small office next to his cell.

I had to hold back tears as I watched him slowly make his way back afterwards, clinging to the walls to avoid falling, returning to an oven-hot, dark, bedbug-infested cell.

In eight hours, he had eaten only a small piece of yam and half an avocado. This is not care. This is punishment.

Dr Kizza Besigye is being deliberately denied the medical care he trusts and requires. He should not be held in squalid, unhealthy conditions that endanger his recovery and his life.

He should be under the care of his family and his personal doctor – not abandoned to neglect behind prison walls.

The law is clear. Dr Kizza Besigye is innocent until proven guilty.

Why, then, is he being treated with such cruelty and inhumanity? Denied bail four times? Every day that he remains ill, every day that he is forced to endure pain, weakness, and the humiliation of these appalling prison conditions, is the responsibility of his captors.

President Museveni and his son, the army commander, are directly accountable for his suffering.

✔️ We demand his immediate release on bail.

✔️ We demand access to proper medical care now.

✔️ We demand an end to the deliberate cruelty being inflicted on him.

I thank Dr Kizza Besigye’s legal team and so many people who have and continue to support him morally and materially. You give him strength and hope.

Fellow Ugandans, medical professionals, religious leaders, and the international community — do not look away.

Silence will make you complicit. Dr Kizza Besigye’s life matters. His rights matter. And those responsible for his suffering will be held to account.

Winnie Byanyima, Spouse of Dr Kizza Besigye

Winnie Byanyima is an influential figure in Ugandan politics. She was previously in a love relationship with President Yoweri Museveni but it ended in tears. Winnie Byanyima has previously spoken about the relation and warned the president’s son – military chief Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba – to go slow. (See Details Here, There and Over There).

Besigye has been in prison for over a year after he was kidnapped from Kenya. Leaked audios seemed to suggest that he was plotting to remove Museveni. (See Details Here and There).

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