On July 29, 2026, Dr. Kizza Besigye, a prominent Ugandan opposition figure and four-time presidential candidate, collapsed in the dock while attending proceedings in his treason trial at the High Court in Kampala.
Witnesses reported that he appeared visibly distressed, protesting the conduct of the trial before suddenly losing consciousness.
Emergency medical teams evacuated him from the courtroom, and he was subsequently admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at Mulago National Referral Hospital, where his condition remains critical.
Claim
Social media
posts especially from X(Formally Twitter) are circulating an image allegedly showing Dr. Kizza Besigye lying in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), presented as evidence of his current health status following his collapse in court.
Findings
Jamii Check found out that the image circulating on social media, which purports to show Dr. Kizza Besigye in the Intensive Care Unit, is AI‑generated with a confidence score of 97%, according to Hive Moderation analysis.
The detection flagged multiple generation sources (gptimage2, happyhorse, seedance2) contributing to the classification. Crucially, the tool reported 0% deepfake probability, confirming that the image was not derived from authentic footage or photographs but instead created synthetically.
Winnie Byanyima, Besigye’s wife and Executive Director of UNAIDS, also came out publicly on X to dismiss the viral photo as fake, urging the public not to be deceived.
Verdict: Misleading
Dr. Kizza Besigye was indeed admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at Mulago National Referral Hospital following his collapse in court on July 29, 2026. However, the image circulating on social media claiming to show him in the ICU is not authentic.
