Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS and wife of imprisoned Ugandan opposition leader\u00a0 Kizza Besigye, has painted a grim picture of her husband\u2019s detention, calling for his immediate release on bail and denouncing what she describes as a military-controlled judiciary in Uganda.<\/p>\n
\nByanyima says Besigye is being held under continuous surveillance by soldiers loyal to General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the son of President Yoweri Museveni, despite being formally incarcerated in the civilian Luzira prison.<\/p>\n
\n“My husband is a prisoner of General Muhoozi, only formally held in a civilian prison,” Byanyima said during a Citizen TV interview.<\/p>\n
\nShe added that Besigye\u2019s every movement, including visits to the prison clinic, is monitored by military personnel, and that the judiciary operates under the influence of the military.<\/p>\n
\n“For all intents and purposes, this is a trial controlled by General Muhoozi. The judge is reporting to him and his father,” she said.<\/p>\n
\nShe expressed fear over posts by General Muhoozi threatening Besigye\u2019s life, calling the opposition leader \u201ca dead man walking.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nByanyima said these messages have left the family living in constant fear, adding, \u201cWe are now a naked dictatorship where the president and his son control our lives.\u201d Despite this, she affirmed the family\u2019s commitment to peaceful resistance.<\/p>\n
\nByanyima also raised concerns about Besigye\u2019s health, noting that he suffers allergic reactions to the prison conditions and remains unwell. The prison cell is poorly ventilated, receives little natural light, and allows minimal movement.<\/p>\n
\n“He has an allergic reaction to the conditions of the prison that he’s under. And he has a right to bail and should be released on bail so that he can be healthy,” said Byanyima.<\/p>\n
\nBesigye is held in solitary confinement and denied the ability to participate in normal prison activities, including church services or outdoor exercise. His personal doctor is only allowed to visit the prison, without proper medical equipment, and observes him under restrictive conditions.<\/p>\n
\nBesigye has applied for bail four times, all of which have been denied. Byanyima criticised the judiciary for bias, saying one judge refused to recognise that Besigye had been held for over 180 days- a period under Ugandan law that would entitle him to mandatory bail.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIt is a travesty of justice,\u201d she said, describing the treatment of her husband as both unjust and politically motivated.<\/p>\n
\n“We have a biased judge. We have complained about him. We’ve asked him to step aside because he’s demonstrated bias. He’s refused, and we continue to plead with higher courts that they ask him to step aside because he’s biased,” said Besigye’s wife.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS and wife of imprisoned Ugandan opposition leader\u00a0 Kizza Besigye, has painted a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[25272,84,80,3187,55613,55614,2621,153,30756],"class_list":{"0":"post-97485","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kenya","8":"tag-general-muhoozi-kainerugaba","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-kenya","11":"tag-kizza-besigye","12":"tag-kizza-besigye-is-a-prisoner-of-general-muhoozi-wife-says-as-she-demands-his-release-on-bail","13":"tag-opposition-leader-kizza-besigye","14":"tag-president-yoweri-kaguta-museveni","15":"tag-uganda","16":"tag-winnie-byanyima"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@africa\/116111683369002883","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}