Eskinder Nega has been detained under several Ethiopian governments
Eskinder Nega has been detained under several Ethiopian governments AFP

Ethiopian journalist and dissident Eskinder Nega has been freed from prison two days after being detained in the country's Amhara region, the political party he founded said on Sunday.

The leading Amhara opposition figure was held Friday evening by security forces and later jailed in the regional capital Bahir Dar, the Balderas for Genuine Democracy party said in a statement.

"Before his arrest, Eskinder did not have a criminal charge to his name, was not on a wanted list, and was not facing a court summons," said the party he founded and led until the middle of last year.

Late Sunday, the party said Eskinder had been freed, in a brief statement posted on its Facebook page.

Eskinder has been detained multiple times under several Ethiopian governments.

He was pardoned and released from prison in January 2022 along with a number of other political activists and leaders after serving 18 months behind bars.

He was rounded up in mass political arrests that followed deadly protests in mid-2020 sparked by the killing of a popular Oromo singer.

Balderas for Genuine Democracy failed to win a single seat in Ethiopia's 2021 general election.