Uganda opposition leader denied bail despite legal limit
Besigye, 69, was abducted by armed men in Nairobi in November and re-emerged a few days later at a military court in Uganda, where he was charged with treason, which carries a potential death penalty.
He is a former doctor to President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled Uganda for nearly 40 years, but turned against him and ran for the presidency on multiple occasions.
Under the constitution, he must be released on bail after 180 days if the trial has not started -- a deadline which passed this week.
His case was transferred to a civilian court in February after he went on hunger strike.
But earlier this week, lawmakers passed a bill allowing civilians to be tried in military court.
In a packed courtroom on Friday, magistrate Esther Nyadoi opted to examine the prosecution's case instead of ruling on Besigye's bail, prompting his lawyers and supporters to walk out in protest.
"I am raising a matter of having no legal representation in this case. Your worship this is a case where our lives are at stake," Besigye said.
The hearing was adjourned and his detention extended until his next appearance on May 29.
Earlier this week, Kenyan foreign minister Musalia Mudavadi admitted "Kenya cooperated with the Ugandan authorities" in Besigye's abduction.
In an interview with AFP on Thursday, he said Uganda was Kenya's largest export market and Nairobi did not want to be seen as "fuelling or antagonising our neighbours".
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Citizen
3 hours ago
- The Citizen
Israel approves plan to conquer Gaza City
While mediators press for a ceasefire deal, Israel has advanced plans for a prolonged Gaza operation. Israel's defence minister approved a plan on Wednesday for the conquest of Gaza City and authorised the call-up of around 60 000 reservists, piling pressure on Hamas as mediators push for a ceasefire. Defence Minister Israel Katz's move, confirmed to AFP by a spokesperson, came as mediators awaited an official Israeli response on their latest proposal. While mediator Qatar had expressed guarded optimism over the latest proposal, a senior Israeli official said the government stood firm on its call for the release of all hostages in any agreement. The framework that Hamas had approved proposes an initial 60-day truce, a staggered hostage release, the freeing of some Palestinian prisoners and provisions allowing for the entry of aid into Gaza. Humanitarian situation worsening On the ground in Gaza City on Wednesday, Mustafa Qazzaat, head of the emergency committee in the Gaza municipality, described the situation as 'catastrophic'. He told AFP that 'large numbers' of people were fleeing their neighbourhoods, with the majority of those displaced 'on the roads and streets without shelter.' Aida Abu Madi, a 48-year-old resident of Zeitoun, said she fled on Wednesday with her husband, children and three grandchildren to the home of relatives in western Gaza City. 'I didn't hear about Israel's decision, but I saw my neighbours fleeing, so I fled too,' she told AFP by telephone. ALSO READ: Israel poised to order new Gaza war plan Anis Daloul, 64, said he fled Zeitoun with his family on Sunday for a neighbourhood northwest of Gaza City. He told AFP by telephone that the Israeli military had 'destroyed most of the buildings in Zeitoun and displaced thousands of people'. Israel's security cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the plan to conquer Gaza City in early August, sparking fears it will worsen the already catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza. According to Israeli media reports, Netanyahu has not yet called a security cabinet meeting to discuss any response to the latest truce proposal. 'Rejects escalation' Netanyahu has come under growing pressure at home and abroad to end the war, with the German government saying on Wednesday that it 'rejects the escalation' of Israel's campaign. Katz's approval of plans to conquer Gaza City came days after Hamas said it had accepted the latest proposal from mediators for a ceasefire to halt almost two years of devastating war. Sources from Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad told AFP on Wednesday that the proposal envisages the release of 10 hostages and 18 bodies from Gaza. The remaining captives would be released in a second exchange within the 60-day period, during which negotiations for a permanent ceasefire would take place, the sources said. ALSO READ: Sanef slams journalist killings in Gaza, calls for action and accountability Israel and Hamas have held on-off indirect negotiations throughout the war, resulting in two short truces during which Israeli hostages were released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas's October 2023 attack that triggered the war, 49 are still in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Qatar, one of the mediators in the talks, said the latest proposal was 'almost identical' to an earlier version agreed by Israel, while Egypt said Monday that 'the ball is now in its (Israel's) court'. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to publicly comment on the truce plan, but said last week that his country would accept 'an agreement in which all the hostages are released at once and according to our conditions for ending the war'. 'Prolonged operation' An Israeli military official told journalists on Wednesday that the new phase of combat would involve 'a gradual precise and targeted operation in and around Gaza City,' including some areas where forces had not previously operated. The official said the military had already begun operating in the neighbourhoods of Zeitoun and Jabalia as part of the initial stages. Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes and fire killed at least 25 people across the territory on Wednesday. When contacted by AFP, the Israeli military asked for coordinates and specific timeframes to comment on the reports, but said it would look into reports of eight people killed by Israeli fire near an aid site in the centre of Gaza. ALSO READ: Gaza civil defence says Israeli fire kills 39 Palestinians Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing swathes of the Palestinian territory mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military. Mounting death toll and settlement plans Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1 219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Israel's offensive has killed at least 62 122 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which the United Nations considers reliable. In the West Bank, Israel on Wednesday approved a major settlement project in an area that the international community has warned threatens the viability of a future Palestinian state. Israel has long had ambitions to build on the roughly 12 square kilometres (five square miles) known as E1 that lie just east of Jerusalem, but the plan had been stalled for years.
IOL News
7 hours ago
- IOL News
Afghanistan bus crash death toll rises to 78
The wreckage of a bus is towed at the site of a crash in Guzara district of Herat province on August 20, 2025. Seventeen children were among those killed, according to army spokesman Mujeebullah Ansar, though a provincial police source put the number at 19. "Two injured individuals from last night's incident succumbed to severe injuries, increasing the number of victims to 78," a statement by the provincial information department said, citing representatives of the military hospital that received victims. Two of the three survivors later died of their injuries, officials said on Wednesday. Seventy-six people died in the accident in Herat province's Guzara district on Tuesday night when the passenger bus hit a motorcycle and a truck transporting fuel, causing an explosive fire, officials and eyewitnesses said. The death toll from a collision between a bus carrying Afghan migrants returning from Iran and two other vehicles in western Afghanistan has risen to 78, provincial officials said on Wednesday. Many of the bodies were "unidentifiable", said Mohammad Janan Moqadas, chief physician at the military hospital. "There was a lot of fire... There was a lot of screaming, but we couldn't even get within 50 metres (160 feet) to rescue anyone," 34-year-old eyewitness Akbar Tawakoli told AFP. "Only three people were saved from the bus. They were also on fire and their clothes were burnt." Clean-up teams worked to remove the torched shell of the bus and twisted wreckage of another vehicle on the roadside early on Wednesday, an AFP journalist saw. 'Children and women' "I was very saddened that most of the passengers on the bus were children and women," another eyewitness, 25-year-old Abdullah, who like many Afghans only uses one last name, told AFP. The bus was carrying Afghans recently returned from Iran to the capital Kabul, Herat provincial government spokesman Mohammad Yousuf Saeedi told AFP. The central Taliban government called for an investigation into the accident. "It is with deep sorrow that we mourn the loss of numerous Afghan lives and the injuries sustained in a tragic bus collision and subsequent fire in Herat province last night," it said in a statement. At least 1.5 million people have returned to Afghanistan since the start of this year from Iran and Pakistan, both of which have sought to force migrants out after decades of hosting them, according to the UN migration agency. Many of those returning spent years outside the country and arrive without a place to go and carrying few belongings, facing steep challenges to resettle in a country gripped by endemic poverty and high unemployment.
IOL News
9 hours ago
- IOL News
Israel defence minister approves plan to conquer Gaza City
A Palestinian boy rushes away from the site of Israeli air strikes on a six-storey building in the Saftawi neighborhood west of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on August 19, 2025. Gaza's civil defence agency reported that 45 people were killed on August 19 by Israeli strikes and fire across the territory. Image: Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has approved the military's plan to conquer Gaza City and authorised the call-up of around 60,000 reservists, his ministry confirmed on Wednesday. When contacted by AFP, a spokesperson from the defence ministry confirmed the reports which appeared in Israeli media. Katz's move piled pressure on Hamas as mediators pushing for a ceasefire in the nearly two-year war in Gaza awaited an official Israeli response on their latest proposal. While mediator Qatar had expressed guarded optimism over the latest proposal, a senior Israeli official said the government stood firm on its call for the release of all hostages in any agreement. A military official told reporters on Wednesday that approximately 50,000 reservists would be called up, with drafts beginning in September. The official said the main forces operating in Gaza in the next stage of the offensive would be active duty troops focusing on Gaza City. The official added that the military was already operating in the Zeitoun and Jabalia neighbourhoods of Gaza City as part of the initial stages of the plan. AFP
