Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye, who fainted on Wednesday in court during his treason trial, is hospitalized in intensive care, his wife Winnie Byanyima, executive director of UNAIDS, told X on Thursday, a claim confirmed by two medical sources to AFP.

Mr. Besigye, 70, former personal physician to President Yoweri Museveni who has ruled Uganda for more than 40 years, has been in the crosshairs of the Kampala government since he joined the opposition more than 25 years ago.

Abducted in November 2024 during a trip to Kenya, he reappeared in Uganda, brought before a court-martial for "treason" on charges of plotting against Mr. Museveni, before the country's highest court ordered that he be tried in a civilian court.

On Wednesday, he collapsed in court shortly after vehemently refusing the lawyers appointed by the Ugandan state, which arrested one of his two defenders - Erias Lukwago, former mayor of Kampala - and banned the second, Martha Karua, former Kenyan Minister of Justice, from entering Uganda.

"He has been admitted to intensive care at Mulago Hospital" in Kampala, his wife Winnie Byanyima posted on X, "he is unconscious, unable to speak and does not even react to painful stimuli."

The spokeswoman for the Mulago public hospital, Gladys Baligonzaki Kajura, confirmed to AFP that Mr. Besigye had been placed in intensive care, without giving further details about his condition.

The opposition leader was transported to Mulago Hospital around 8:30 pm (5:30 pm GMT) on Wednesday, another medical source, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals, confirmed to AFP. "He was in critical condition and unconscious. He was immediately admitted to intensive care," the source added.

This is the third time the opposition figure has been hospitalized since being detained. In February 2025, he was hospitalized shortly after a hunger strike, and then again briefly last January.

Winnie Byanyima, who at the time lamented the severe dehydration her husband was suffering from, denounced in June 2025 his "inhumane" detention conditions, "in a tiny" and overcrowded cell, where he is "attacked by bedbugs".

She had also denounced a "plot to kill" Mr. Besigye by the Ugandan president.

Uganda has seen increasing political repression in recent months, with the army, led by Mr. Museveni's own son, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, arresting opposition figures and lawyers and shutting down the country's main independent media group for a month, which was finally allowed to reopen on Tuesday.