Besigye was arrested in Kenya and taken across the border to a Ugandan military jail, according to his wife, Winnie Byanyima, head of the U.N. HIV/AIDS program.

Leading Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye has been arrested multiple times, pepper-sprayed, faced spurious charges of rape and treason, and once fled the country in fear of his life.Besigye ran again against his former patient in 2006 but spent most of the campaign defending himself against rape and treason charges that the High Court later found were trumped up.