Challengers to Uganda leader face state attack: opposition leader's wife

Anyone who challenges Uganda's longtime leader faces the full force of the state, the wife of a jailed veteran opposition leader warned Saturday, urging authorities to release her unwell husband for treatment.

Kizza Besigye, 70, has been in custody and facing treason charges over an alleged plot against veteran President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power since 1986.

His wife Winnie Byanyima, the executive director of Geneva-based UNAIDS, said: "You challenge President Museveni and the whole might of the state will be turned against you."

Citing the example of singer-turned-politician Bobi Wine, who unsuccessfully ran for president earlier this year and is now in exile, she said: "You cannot challenge President Yoweri Museveni in Uganda and have peace."

The state brokered no opposition to Museveni, she said, "you cannot do so democratically. He will turn you into a criminal."

International observers have warned about the erosion of rights in the east African country, especially after Museveni's landslide victory earlier this year in polls that were widely criticised.

Besigye, a former personal physician to the president, has been in the government's crosshairs since he joined the opposition more than 25 years ago.

He was abducted in neighbouring Kenya in 2024 and reappeared in Uganda, where he was brought before a military tribunal until the case was transferred to a civilian court.

The ageing politician was recently admitted to intensive care after collapsing, but was sent back to prison earlier this month against medical advice.

Byanyima appealed to authorities to grant bail so that he could receive medical care.

"Allow me to take him to our home in Geneva so that we, his family, can care for him... it is his right," she told reporters at her home on the outskirts of capital Kampala.

"When he has recovered, he will return here and face the case against him," she said.

"I believe he's innocent and in a fair trial, an independent, impartial court, his innocence will be found," she added.

Uganda in recent months has imposed a widening crackdown on opposition figures, lawyers and independent media.