NAIROBI, Kenya, May 7- Ugandan opposition leader Dr Kiiza Besigye was on Friday discharged from Nairobi Hospital where he was rushed in from Kampala over a week ago to receive specialised treatment.
A hospital spokesman said Dr Besigye who lost the recent general elections in Uganda to incumbent Yoweri Kaguta Museveni was considered, "strong and well enough" to leave the facility.
Other sources confirmed that the Forum for Democratic Change leader who was injured by police during the walk-to-work protests in Uganda would be staying in Nairobi for a while.
"Some family members have also joined him including his wife Winnie Byanyima," a source said.
Dr Besigye was set upon by Uganda security forces leading to the injuries that necessitated the specialised treatment.
The opposition chief was admitted to the Nairobi Hospital on April 29, ironically at the same period when his political rival was in the country to address an open forum.
Responding to questions from the participants at the Mindspeak forum, Mr Museveni defended police action against Dr Besigye, saying it was the opposition leader who provoked the police by first attacking them.
He claimed that Dr Besigye was first to attack the police with pepper spray before the police grabbed the can from him and used it to subdue him.
Ugandan police were captured live on camera smashing the windows of Dr Besigye\’s car using pistols and hammers before assaulting him and its occupants with pepper spray.
"I think the lenses of CNN don\’t see very well because they did not capture this opposition leader attacking the policemen. I\’m told that women use pepper spray to defend themselves against rapists but I had never heard of it before," he said.
"But it was that leader who started the attack," insisted the Ugandan president.
The police were captured beating up the occupants of Dr Besigye\’s car after attacking them using the pepper spray before bundling them onto a waiting police truck.
The attack on the opposition leader led to a public outcry from various civil societies and diplomatic missions in Uganda. The country also witnessed violence in some sections of Kampala city with rioters demonstrating against Dr Besigye\’s attack.
The Ugandan President also accused the opposition leader of flouting the law with his protests, claiming that he did not have the permit to carry them out.
Mr Museveni said: "Dr Besigye should have informed the police about his activities before embarking on them."
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