Thanking all of you brave people who have contributed. @kizzabesigye1 has been touched by your strong support.
I am most grateful and invite all of Ugandans to #StandwithBesigye
And make a contribution.
**HE IS NOT ALONE*
*STAND WITH BESIGYE*
For 22 months, Dr Kizza Besigye has been behind the walls of Luzira Prison.
For nearly three decades, he has paid a heavy price for standing for freedom, justice and democracy in Uganda - arrested countless times, detained, brutalised and prosecuted, without a single criminal conviction.
Now his health is failing.
He collapsed in court. Yet bail has repeatedly been denied. His trial continues while he is unwell and unable to participate fully in his defence.
His legal team has been broken up: team leader @MarthaKarua barred from Uganda, another forced into exile, and his Deputy lead lawyer, former Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, @EriasLukwago_ himself now in prison instead of hospital of choice per medical team opinion.
They (Government) have taken Besigye’s freedom.
We (the people) will not stand by as prison takes his health and dignity too.
And we stand with those imprisoned alongside him, and those paying a price for defending him.
OUR GOAL: UGX 100 MILLION
We are raising UGX 100,000,000 for Dr Besigye’s welfare and care in detention, and to ease the enormous burden that prolonged imprisonment places on those caring for him.
This is not a legal fund. It is a human solidarity fund.
It is ordinary people saying to a man who has given so much:
You are not alone.
We see you.
We stand with you.
The arithmetic is simple:
100 people × UGX 1,000,000
1,000 people × UGX 100,000
10,000 people × UGX 10,000
Every contribution counts. No amount is too small.
Let thousands of us turn our concern into solidarity—and our solidarity into action.
CONTRIBUTE:
+256 776 462727 — Atuhaire Agather
HE IS NOT ALONE.
SHOW UP. NOT TOMORROW. NOW.
#StandWithBesigye #FreeBesigye
After dark, Dr @kizzabesigye1 was moved from Luzira Prison to JCRC hospital today.
He is still very weak. He struggles to walk, speak, write or even hold anything steadily.
I am asking for one thing - let me bring him home to Geneva for proper medical care, surrounded by his family.
He has been arrested more than 50 times. He has faced case after case. He has never run away from justice.
Why drag a sick man from place to place? Why deny him the care of his family? Why force a trial on a man too ill to defend himself?
He needs care, not cruelty.
This is not justice. It is persecution.
#RightToHealth
#FreeKizzaBesigye
When Besigye was kidnapped from Nairobi, the air was thick with claims. Regime insiders insisted they held watertight evidence of treason. That was the story sold to the public.
Now the white man called Orlando stands in court presenting his videos and audio recordings. And the moment those materials hit the table, they fail the most basic tests of evidentiary law. In the law of evidence we do not spend time trying to salvage scrap. Scrap belongs in the dustbin, not in a court of law.
Even without the best or most independent lawyers, even with counsel the state itself has selected, anyone who actually cares about justice can dismantle this narrative. It lacks substance from the foundation up. One can fairly conclude that this foreigner was far more interested in pouring money into a mission designed to make Besigye look like a terrorist than in any genuine intelligence work that uncovered a real security threat to the state.
Why should a court waste its time listening to a concoction?
@kizzabesigye1 is guardian of Deo Given Okodi. Deo sent me this msg today:
Hi Winnie.
I saw a video today showing Dr. Besigye abroad on 24th May 2020, and that date struck me deeply. I was in S.6, locked down at the Kasangati home, and it was my birthday. Dr. KB gave me a box of chocolates, my first ever birthday celebration. I have never forgotten that kindness.
It pains me, seeing the same date now being used by the State to tell a completely different story. It is deeply disappointing when facts and memories are seemingly reshaped to fit a narrative.
I pray that God continues to protect and strengthen KB, grants him good health, and ultimately brings justice and truth to light. May the truth prevail, no matter how long it takes.
These are the saddest times, very ridiculous movt by the State, yet we look up to God, sustainer of all our lives, for answers.
I had decided to stay silent, but maybe I will say a word or two
We are all aware that Judge Baguma has decided that Dr Kiiza Besigye will be tried in absentia and without the lawyers of his choice.
To me, this is a deeply troubling moment for anyone who believes that justice must not only be done, but also be seen to be done.
Dr Kiiza Besigye has consistently challenged the court over his right to legal representation and circumstances surrounding the proceedings. Recent reporting has highlighted the legal dispute over whether his absence can lawfully be treated as a voluntary refusal to attend court. Under Uganda’s constitution, criminal proceedings may continue in limited circumstances when an accused consents to being tried in their absence or voluntarily absconds after being summoned.
But the bigger question remains, can a fair trial truly take place when the accused is absent and doesn’t have the legal representation he accepts ?
This is not simply about Besigye, it is about the principles that should protect every Ugandan who ever finds themselves before a court of law.
A court room should never become a place where procedure is more important than justice . The strength of the judicial system is measured not by how quickly it can move a case forward, but by whether the accused is given a genuine opportunity to defend himself .
Ugandans deserve confidence that courts are places where justice is independent , transparent and fair.
If Dr Besigye is guilty of the charges against him , let the prosecution prove its case openly and lawfully. But if the country is watching a trial in which the accused is not present and his preferred legal representation is absent, then serious questions will inevitably be asked.
Justice must not only be delivered, It must be credible, It must be transparent , and It must be seen to be fair.
This has nothing to do with Politics, I hope it finds all well
I am shocked and deeply distressed.
After 7pm tonight, my partner @kizzabesigye1 was bundled up and taken back to Luzira Prison.
When I left KB at 4.30pm, he still could not walk or talk. At lunch, I fed him soft food with a spoon because his arms and hands remain very weak.
He cannot yet care for himself.
1/4
📌📌
Message from Kenya on #BesigyeTrial@edwinsifuna
When Kizza Besigye's body gave way in that Ugandan courtroom, it was not a man surrendering. It was a broken body exposing a broken state. As he cried, "Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!" before collapsing onto the cold floor of the suspects' dock, the illusion of justice collapsed with him. His fall became the final indictment of a court that had long abandoned the law.
The judge fled. The prosecutors vanished. The carefully rehearsed theatre of persecution disintegrated in seconds. The witness, so eager to peddle a tale of treason, could not withstand the weight of truth. The men who had come to choreograph a conviction suddenly discovered that no script exists for courage. A single collapsing body scattered an entire machinery of intimidation.
That is the irony of tyranny. Dictators spend years constructing monuments of fear, only for one act of defiance to expose that they were built on sand. The regime wanted the world to see a prisoner. Instead, the world saw a government terrified of one frail, exhausted man.
And Kenya watched.
We watched with rage. We watched with shame. We watched knowing that Dr. Besigye's nightmare did not begin in Kampala alone. It passed through Nairobi. Under President William Ruto's administration, Besigye was abducted on Kenyan soil and delivered into the hands of his persecutors. That stain cannot be washed away by official statements or diplomatic niceties. It will remain one of the darkest betrayals of Kenya's constitutional values and its long-standing commitment to asylum, liberty and the rule of law.
We also watched our Ugandan brothers and sisters with heavy hearts. Dictatorships do not survive because they are strong, they survive because fear becomes normal. But history has never been rewritten by the comfortable. Every generation eventually reaches a moment when silence becomes more painful than resistance. That choice belongs to the people Uganda.
As Kenyans, our own verdict awaits the ballot box. Those who collaborated in this shameful chapter will answer to the sovereign will of the people. In a constitutional democracy, power is borrowed—not owned. Those who misuse it eventually return it, whether willingly or by force of the ballot.
Africa's struggles are not confined by colonial borders. When freedom is assaulted in Kampala, Nairobi cannot pretend to be untouched. When justice is kidnapped in one African nation, every African has a stake in its return. Our destinies are intertwined.
Kizza Besigye may have collapsed, but it was not his spirit that fell. It was the mask of an unjust system. His body hit the floor, and a kangaroo court lost its legitimacy before the eyes of Africa and the world.
Lit sana.
#sifuna #Luo #LuhyaNation #KenyanPolitics
Please join me in praying for @kizzabesigye1 and demanding justice.
He has been admitted to the ICU at Mulago Hospital. He is unconscious, unable to speak, and unresponsive even to a pain stimulus.
Before he collapsed, he cried out that he was being injured. His sister, Dr Kobusingye, was in court but was not allowed to attend to him.
What happened to KB?
One day, @KagutaMuseveni and his son @mkainerugaba will have to answer that question.
Long Live Dr. Kizza Besigye!
You will forever be my Number One leader.
I’m super proud of you, as always. Today you put up a spirited one-man fight in court, even when most of us your defiant supporters were blocked from being with you.
Your courage gives us more courage. History will remember you as the man who never gave up the fight for social justice.
Quick Recovery, General🤛🏻✌🏼
Today, the entire country witnessed an appalling and inhumane display inside our courts. What the NRM regime defines as a "fair and speedy trial" has once again been unmasked for what it truly is: a state-sponsored judicial execution of a national icon.
Dr. Kizza Besigye who served as the personal physician to Mr. Yoweri Museveni and the NRA combatants during the bush war that claimed over half a million Ugandan lives to guarantee fundamental human rights collapsed inside the court dock.
Mr. Baguma Emmanuel willfully violated Article 28 of the 1995 Constitution by arbitrarily imposing state-appointed lawyers on Dr. Besigye against his explicit will. This was done while completely ignoring a formal application pending before Justice Simon Peter Kinobe meant to resolve the issue of legal representation.
Court rushed to swear in court assessors and brought forward their hired witness, Andrew Wilson, to the dock to continue a manufactured trial.
Before collapsing, Dr. Besigye spoke the truth that echoes across the nation: "THERE MUST BE AN END TO THIS JUDICIAL NONSENSE!"
Dr. Lulume Bayiga and Dr. Nicolas Kamara, qualified medical doctors present in court rushed forward to save his life but in display of pure cruelty were barred in the guise of not being under oath to administer treatment. Since when does emergency medical intervention require a court oath? To deny basic medical aid to an unconscious citizen in court custody is attempted murder by judicial omission.
Dr. Besigye now lies unconscious in Mbuya Military Hospital while Mr. Baguma has casually adjourned the matter "until further notice." Moving our leader in critical condition to a military facility, the very apparatus of his oppression, further highlights the regime's sinister motives.
We call upon all Ugandans to reject this blatant tyranny before every citizen's constitutional protections are completely destroyed.
#FreeEriasLukwago
#FreeKizzaBesigye
#FreeHajjiObeid
#FreeSamMugumya
#FreeSamuelMakokha
#FreedomForAll