Ugandan opposition politician ‘kidnapped’ in Kenya, taken to military jail

Kizza Besigye’s wife says he was seized in Nairobi and is being held in a Kampala jail, as she calls for his immediate release.

Prominent Ugandan opposition politician Kizza Besigye has been kidnapped in neighbouring Kenya and taken to a military jail in Uganda, according to his wife.

Winnie Byanyima, the executive director of the United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), called on the Ugandan government, in a post on X, to release her husband immediately.

He was kidnapped last Saturday while he was in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, to attend a book launch event of another politician, according to Byanyima.

“I am now reliably informed that he is in a military jail in Kampala,” she wrote. “We his family and his lawyers demand to see him. He is not a soldier. Why is he being held in a military jail?”

The Ugandan government and military have not commented on the incident.

Besigye is scheduled to appear before a military court on Wednesday, one of his lawyers said.

“The latest information we have is Besigye is in military cells in Kampala and the army is planning to produce him in the General Court Martial today,” Erias Lukwago told the AFP news agency, quoting sources within the military.

“We are yet to establish the charges against him,” he added.

Ugandan police spokesman Kituuma Rusoke told the Reuters news agency that the police do not have him and cannot comment on his whereabouts.

Korir Singoei, Kenya’s foreign affairs principal secretary, told local media that Kenya was not involved in the alleged incident.

Kizza Besigye is arrested by riot police in Kampala, Uganda, in February 2016 [File: Ben Curtis/AP Photo]

In July, Kenyan authorities arrested 36 members of Besigye’s Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party, one of Uganda’s main opposition groups.

They were then deported to Uganda, where they were indicted on charges related to “terrorism”.

Besigye has been arrested numerous times over the years. He was once the individual doctor for Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni during the country’s rebel-led war but later became an outspoken critic and political opponent.

He ran against Museveni, who has ruled the East African country since 1986, four times. He lost all the elections but rejected the results and alleged fraud and voter intimidation.

Over the decades, Museveni’s government has been accused of repeated human rights violations against opposition leaders and supporters, including illegal detentions, torture and extrajudicial killings.

Authorities in Uganda have rejected these accusations, claiming those arrested are being held legally and taken through due process in the judicial system.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies