Ugandan Judge, Douglas Singiza has directed that sick opposition politician Kizza Besigye be returned to prison.

“This is an administrative order. If a prisoner is sick, I can’t continue with him. He might faint... Prison authorities take back Kizza Besigye we continue with the lawyers,” he ordered.

The directive followed Besigye’s appearance at the High Court, Civil Division, alongside Obeid Lutale for their habeas corpus hearing. 

(Habeas Corpus is an order issued by the court to a person who has detained another person, to produce the body of the latter before it)

Judge Singiza also directed that Besigye’s lawyers stay and proceed with the Habeas Corpus plea.

The Opposition politician has been on a hunger strike over the last week.

His wife in a statement on Tuesday said that after being allowed to visit Besigye, she found him weak, dizzy and had lost a lot of weight.

She noted that it is painful to see her husband in such a ‘humiliating’ state.

She demanded Besigye’s immediate release, from the prison cells describing it as a place used to hold terrorists.

“Besigye is weak, has lost alarming weight, and is dizzy—he hasn’t eaten in 5 days. This is not just illegal detention, it is kidnapping. I am outraged and demand that (President) Kaguta Museveni and his son, the army chief, release him immediately. He is a citizen with rights—just like them!” Winnie said on X.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni would later on term Besigye’s hunger strike as blackmail.

He went on to say that the opposition politician did this, just to get sympathy from the public and to be able to get bail.

 “Dr. Besigye was on hunger strike. That is part of the cause for his weakness that we could see in the pictures that were in the Newspapers. Is that not unprincipled blackmail? How can you be accused of serious crimes and, then, your response is a hunger strike to generate sympathy for getting bail, etc.?” Museveni posed.

The Ugandan President insisted that Ugandans should focus more on why Besigye was arrested.

He said the opposition politician was arrested for things he was planning to do, adding that the solution to his troubles would be a quick trial, which Besigye can ask for.

Besigye was arrested on November 16, 2024, in Nairobi, where he was to attend Martha Karua’s book launch.

Four days later, on November 20, Besigye and Hajj Lutale appeared before a military court in Kampala, under the charges of possession of an illegal firearm.

They pleaded not guilty and were remanded at Luzira Maximum Security Prison.

In January 2025, the military court ruled that Besigye could be tried for treacher. 

On January 31, 2025, the Supreme Court of Uganda ruled that the trial of civilians in military courts was unconstitutional.

On February 11, Besigye began a hunger strike and was hospitalized a few days later.