Kizza Besigye, the Ugandan opposition leader, was driven from Nairobi to Uganda following his unlawful detention, according to his wife.
Winnie Byanyima, Besigye’s wife, provided an insight into the capture that has captivated the country’s attention over the previous week.
She told the reporters that Ugandan security officers kidnapped her husband and brought him to Uganda by road.
A voyage that often takes more than 13 hours.
Byanyima, who spoke after visiting the husband at Luzira Prison in Southeastern Kampala, stated that Besigye and his counterpart, Obed Kamulegeya Lutale, were packed into a small car after being apprehended.
In an interview with Reuters published on Monday, November 25, Byanyima stated that she learned of the details when visiting Besigye in prison following his abduction.
“He wasn’t tortured, but he was sat on all the way,” she asserted.
She went on to narrate, “They packed him in a little car and sat on him (Besigye) and Obed. By the time he arrived in Kampala, he said he could hardly walk.”
The new information puts into context purported failures by the country’s intelligence, which has said it had no role in the capture of President Yoweri Museveni’s long-time rival.
On the day of the capture, Besigye is alleged to have taken a taxi from his hotel room to Riverside Drive to meet an acquaintance, Obed.
Besigye was never seen or heard from again, including by his cab driver, who had waited for him.
Byanyima revealed that shortly after his abduction, Besigye was violently packed, tied up, and forced into a car with his political comrade, Obed Kamulegeya Lutale.
The abductors sat on them until they arrived in Kampala.
She stated that the abductors appeared to be Kenyans speaking Swahili before attacking and abducting the opposition leader.
During her visit, Besigye also revealed that he overheard his abductors speaking in a Ugandan language, which the Ugandan government has categorically denied.
Byanyima remarked that the charges against Besigye were politically motivated and the result of a political witch hunt.
Besigye has been an outspoken critic of President Yoweri Museveni, competing against him unsuccessfully in four elections.
“This is not just about Kizza Besigye and how the opposition can have its space, a healthy space, to play its role in a constitutional democracy,” she said.
On Friday, Uganda’s Minister of ICT and National Guidance, Chris Baryomunsi, accused Kenya’s government of complicity in the Besigye capture.
The disclosure comes as NARC Kenya Party leader Martha Karua has joined Besigye’s 50-member legal team as he faces trial at a military court on December 2.
Add Comment