Summary:
Byanyima, who serves as the executive director of the United Nations AIDS agency (UNAIDS), stated that Besigye views his ongoing detention as a gross injustice.
NEWS: The wife of former Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) president Dr. Kizza Besigye, Winnie Byanyima, has revealed that her husband is considering a hunger strike in protest of his continued detention, despite a ruling from Uganda’s Supreme Court in his favor.
Besigye, along with a co-defendant, is facing trial in a military court for unlawful possession of ammunition and a firearm. However, the Supreme Court ruled on January 31 that civilians should not be tried in military courts and ordered that Besigye’s case be transferred to the civilian courts.
Byanyima, who serves as the executive director of the United Nations AIDS agency (UNAIDS), stated that Besigye views his ongoing detention as a gross injustice.
“He is on hunger strike, illegally detained by a regime that fears his defiance more than it respects the law,” Byanyima said. “This is not just an attack on him. It is an attack on every Ugandan who dares to demand justice. They think they can break his spirit, but they underestimate his resolve. Besigye will not yield while the regime tramples on justice. His fight is my fight. I will stand with him. Stand for justice.”
Audio: Winnie Byanyima on Besigye’s Situation:
Supporters of Besigye, including Kabale Municipality MP Dr. Nicholas Thadeus Kamara, Rubabo County MP Naboth Namanya, and Kampala’s Deputy Lord Mayor Doreen Nyanjura, recently revealed that Besigye had been given a stark choice: eat the prison food or starve.
Prison authorities reportedly prohibited his visitors from bringing food from outside the prison canteen, even though they had brought items like posho, milk, millet flour, honey, cooking oil, rice, and Blue Band margarine.
Weeks later, Uganda Prisons Services announced that Besigye had ceased communicating with prison officials, raising concerns among human rights advocates.
On Tuesday, Besigye did not appear at Buganda Road Court due to illness. A letter from the officer in charge of Upper Prison, where Besigye is being held, informed the magistrate of his inability to attend.
As a result, Magistrate Winnie Nankya postponed the hearing of the incitement to violence case against Besigye.
The court issued a production warrant, instructing prison authorities to present Besigye on Friday, February 14, to explain his absence.
Besigye and activist Samuel Lubega Mukaaku are charged with inciting violence during the June 2022 protests in Kampala against rising commodity prices.
The prosecution claims that Besigye and Mukaaku used a loudspeaker to urge Ugandans to overthrow the government, a move they argue constitutes incitement to violence.
