Amnesty International and other human rights groups announced intentions to demand for the immediate release of Ugandan opposition politician Colonel (rtd) Dr. Kizza Besigye.
Details emerging indicate that protesters will on Friday march in Kenya’s capital Nairobi and storm the Uganda High Commission in Nairobi and the National Assembly.
According to the protestors led by Amnesty International, the march is in responce to failure by Uganda government to comply with Supreme court ruling which stated that Col (rtd) Dr. Kizza Besigye and his co-accused were unlawfully detained last Month.
Col (rtd) Dr. Besigye, Hajj Obeid Lutale, and lawyer Eron Kiiza are still languishing in a military detention facility in Kampala charged in a military court with illegal possession of a firearm, threatening national security, and treason
“We condemn the militarization of justice in Uganda and the escalating government repression ahead of the 2026 general elections. We call for the immediate release of Kizza Besigye, Hajj Obeid Lutale, Eron Kiiza, and others unlawfully detained,” the rights groups said in a joint statement.
Ugandan government has insisted that Besigye’s military trial will proceed, with President Yoweri Museveni dismissing the Supreme Court ruling as “a wrong decision” and vowing to challenge it.
The 68-year-old Col (rtd) Dr. Besigye has since been on hunger strike which has negatively affected his general health.
Uganda’s Information Minister Chris Baryomunsi said he had visited Besigye in prison, along with his doctors, and urged him to end his hunger strike while the government worked to transfer his case from the military court to a civilian court.
Besigye’s wife, Winnie Byanyima, questioned the visit, calling it “highly suspicious.”
“As a government minister, you are not a concerned visitor—you are his captor,” Byanyima, who is also the director of the UN’s HIV/AIDS programme, posted on X.
“We will hold you and your government fully accountable for any harm that comes to him,” she added.
