Besigye transferred to Uganda's maximum security prison

Ugandan opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, has been transferred to the country’s only maximum security prison in the capital Kampala, his lawyer has said.

The transfer follows Besigye’s appearance before a court in the country’s remote northeastern region.

Uganda opposition leader Besigye returned to prison in capital after treason charge pic.twitter.com/yJNcHkklSz

— NTV Kenya (@ntvkenya) May 17, 2016

The veteran opposition leader was last Friday charged with treason for unlawfully declaring himself winner of the country’s disputed February 18 presidential election and for swearing himself in as president-elect.

He was arrested last Wednesday as he addressed a rally in downtown Kampala after he had been sworn-in as president before a section of party executives and was flown to a prison in the remote Karamoja region, near the border with Kenya.

Besigye’s lawyer, Moses Byamugisha told Reuters the next move “will be to apply for bail …by Thursday, we should have made an application for bail to the high court”.

Describing the treason charges as “laughable”, Byamugisha said “the intention of government is not to win this case in court but to just get Besigye out of circulation.”

The police on Monday said they had also summoned some Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) officials who appeared in Besigye’s mock swearing-in video for questioning on why they allegedly participated in an unlawful activity.

Besigye has rejected the results of the February 18 polls which gave the incumbent president Yoweri Museveni over 60 percent of the votes, citing widespread vote rigging, intimidation by security services and other irregularities.

The European Union and other independent election observers have criticised the poll which they said was carried out in an atmosphere of intimidation.

Since the election, there have been sporadic clashes between security forces and opposition supporters seeking to protest what they say is Museveni’s fraudulent victory.

Museveni who has been in power for three decades has been accused by critics of stifling dissent.

Reuters