KAMPALA, Jan 22 (Reuters) – Detained Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye is in a “worrying” health condition after falling sick, his wife Winnie Byanyima told Reuters, citing symptoms including high temperature, stomach pain, dehydration and inability to walk.
Besigye, 69, has spent more than a year in detention after his arrest in neighbouring Kenya, where he had travelled before being extradited to Uganda and charged with treason and other offences.
His lawyers, wife, and political allies have rejected the charges, describing him as a political prisoner targeted for opposing President Yoweri Museveni’s decades-long rule.
Museveni, 81, secured another term in last week’s election after he was declared winner with just under 72% of the vote against his opponent, Bobi Wine, who has contested the results as fraudulent.
Byanyima, the executive director of the U.N. agency UNAIDS, said in an interview with Reuters at their Kampala residence that Besigye’s health had deteriorated significantly since falling ill. His condition includes severe pain in his legs and limited food intake.
He is also unable to walk and eats little, Byanyima, who visited her husband on Wednesday, added.
Frank Baine, spokesperson for the Uganda Prisons Service, did not respond to calls for comment.
The government denies persecuting opposition figures and says all those who have been detained have committed crimes.
Byanyima said that a doctor who took tests suspects Besigye has a bacterial infection but results of the diagnosis are not yet out.
Prisons authorities had rejected Besigye’s request to be admitted to his private doctor’s clinic for effective treatment and monitoring, Byanyima said.
“Every hour they delay to do that is a cost on his life because his condition is not under control,” she said.
“He (Besigye) is a political prisoner, and he’s being treated in a way that is compromising his health right now.”
Byanyima said Besigye, who was Museveni’s ally and personal physician before he became an opposition leader, is being held in solitary confinement in a small, hot room with limited space and forced to sleep on a thin, bedbug-infested mattress.
Besigye, who has contested Museveni in presidential elections four times, missed a court appearance on Wednesday due to his worsening condition. “They are denying him health care. They want to kill him,” Byanyima said.
(Reporting by Nairobi Newsroom; Editing by Bate Felix, William Maclean)
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