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Ethiopian dissident Eskinder Nega arrested: political party
Ethiopian journalist and dissident Eskinder Nega has been detained in the country's Amhara region where he is a leading opposition figure, the political party he founded said on Sunday.
He was arrested on Friday evening by security forces while passing through Bure, a district south of the regional capital Bahir Dar, the Balderas for Genuine Democracy party said in a statement.
Eskinder, who has been detained under several Ethiopian governments, was transferred on Saturday to a prison in Bahir Dar, said the party he founded and led until July last year.
"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," the party said.
It said local government officials were still deciding whether to hand Eskinder over to the Prosperity Party of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
Eskinder 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.
D. O'Sullivan--BTZ
