Kizza Besigye, a prominent Ugandan opposition figure, has initiated a hunger strike while facing trial in a military court, despite a recent Supreme Court ruling prohibiting courts-martial from trying civilians. His wife, Winnie Byanyima, claims he is protesting his illegal detention by a regime that disregards the law. However, Ugandan prison officials deny Besigye's hunger strike, stating he is in good health. This follows Besigye's abduction in Kenya and subsequent charges of firearm possession and treachery.
A prominent opposition figure in Uganda who is on trial in a military tribunal has begun a hunger strike , his wife said, two weeks after the country's top court banned courts-martial from trying civilians. President Yoweri Museveni said his government would continue to prosecute civilians in military courts despite the Supreme Court's ruling. A spokesperson for Uganda 's prisons denied that Kizza Besigye was on hunger strike .
Besigye, a long-time opponent of Museveni, was detained in neighboring Kenya in November, in what a senior Kenyan foreign affairs official described as an abduction. He was subsequently brought home and charged with illegal possession of firearms and with treachery, which carries the death penalty.'Kizza Besigye is on hunger strike, detained illegally by a regime that fears his defiance more than it respects the law,' Besigye's wife Winnie Byanyima wrote on X late on Tuesday. 'They think they can break his spirit, but they underestimate his resolve. (Besigye) will not yield while the regime tramples on justice,' said Byanyima, who is the executive director of the United Nations agency UNAIDS. Uganda's prisons spokesperson Frank Baine denied the assertion regarding her husband, telling Reuters:'Besigye is OK and he is not on a hunger strike.'Besigye ran against and lost to Museveni in four presidential elections.Human rights activists have accused Museveni's government of widespread human rights abuses, including torture and arbitrary detention
Uganda Kizza Besigye Military Tribunal Hunger Strike Human Rights Yoweri Museveni
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