KAMPALA — The health of jailed Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye is failing, his party said on Tuesday, after he was driven overnight to a medical facility in the capital of Kampala.

Besigye's health “has reached a critical and deteriorating state,” the People's Front for Freedom (PFF) said in a statement that also demanded unrestricted access to Besigye by his personal doctors and family.

A veteran politician who was Uganda's most prominent opposition figure before the rise of Bobi Wine, Besigye is being detained in a maximum-security jail in Kampala. He is set to be tried over treason charges he says are politically motivated.

The 69-year-old politician was driven to a private medical facility under "heavy security", the party said, without specifying what he is suffering from.

However, prison authorities denied that Besigye's health was dire, describing his overnight visit to a doctor as a "general check-up".

Besigye, a former personal doctor to President Yoweri Museveni and one of his longest-standing political rivals, has been in detention since November 2024.

The PFF leader was charged in a military court with treason, which carries the death sentence, as well as illegal possession of a firearm and threatening national security. He denies the accusations.

Besigye, who has run for president against Museveni four times, has been in detention with his associate Obeid Lutale since they were both dramatically seized in Kenya and taken back to Uganda.

Last month, a court denied them bail for the fourth time, saying it was too early to release them as they had not yet entered their pleas.

In a statement on Tuesday, the PFF accused Ugandan authorities of denying Besigye proper medical care, noting that his continued detention amounted to a violation of his basic rights.

"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 said, adding: "We hold the regime and the prison authorities fully accountable for his well-being."

Frank Baine, a spokesman for Uganda's prisons, denied that Besigye's health was critical, saying the opposition figure was under standard medical supervision.

"Kizza Besigye receives necessary treatment like other prisoners and he is fine," Baine said, adding: "This morning he was doing his exercises."

But the PFF described Baine's remarks as a "blatant attempt to mask the physical toll" of Besigye's continued detention, insisting: "Our leader is seriously unwell."

It demanded that Besigye's personal doctors and family be granted immediate and unrestricted access to him, so they can provide specialised and independent medical care.

Speaking to a local TV station, Besigye's wife, Winnie Byanyima, said that her husband had complained of acute stomach pain, a high temperature and he was severely dehydrated.

"He was shaking and unable to walk. He is seriously ill and he refused to be treated by the prison authorities," Byanyima, who is a respected human rights advocate and head of UNAids, added.

Besigye, who last contested the presidency in 2016, has previously accused the authorities of political persecution.

In recent years he has been less active in politics and did not contest the general election earlier this month.

There have been increasing calls by his family, opposition and human rights groups for him to be released on medical grounds. — Agencies