Kizza Besigye, veteran opponent of President Yoweri Museveni, may face death penalty but will not get justice in military court, warns Winnie Byanyima, UNAids chief

It was a message from her sister-in-law asking where he was that made Winnie Byanyima start worrying about her husband, Dr Kizza Besigye, a prominent Ugandan opposition leader. Byanyima, head of UNAids, had just returned from Malawi to Geneva, where the UN programme on HIV/Aids is based, in November. She rang Besigye’s phone – it was off.

She made some calls and learned that he had gone from Uganda to neighbouring Kenya to attend a book launch. Then a journalist told her he believed Besigye was now being held in a military prison in Kampala, Uganda’s capital.