Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye, hospitalised for more than a week after collapsing in a court trying him for treason, was sent back to prison on Friday against medical advice, his wife said.

Besigye had been admitted to intensive care in Kampala after collapsing on July 30 in the middle of a hearing.

"I am shocked and deeply distressed. After 7pm tonight, my partner @kizzabesigye1 was bundled up and taken back to Luzira Prison" in Kampala, his wife Winnie Byanyima, the UNAIDS executive director, said on X.

"Why the rush to return a seriously ill man to prison before he can walk, talk or feed himself?" she said.

‘Who gave this order?’

"Who gave this order, and why was medical judgment overridden?" she said. "Taking a helpless patient from where he can receive rehabilitation and family assistance, and returning him to a prison that cannot support his condition, is cruel".

"Who gave this order, and why was medical judgment overridden?" she added.

Besigye has been taken to hospital three times since his detention. He was admitted briefly in February 2025 after a hunger strike and again earlier this year.

His wife has repeatedly criticised his detention conditions, describing them as inhumane and alleging a plot to kill him.