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US criticises Bahrain over blogger arrest

Bahrain's arrest of a prominent blogger and other Internet activists could it could make it more difficult to establish political dialogue after recent anti-government unrest, the US state department said on Wednesday.

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Bahrain's arrest of a prominent blogger and other Internet activists could it could make it more difficult to establish political dialogue after recent anti-government unrest, the US state department said on Wednesday.

State department spokesperson Mark Toner said the United States was deeply concerned over the arrest of Mahmood al-Yousif and reported arrest of two other prominent activists this week.

"We hope that the Bahraini government's decision to arrest bloggers and Internet activists will not make it more difficult to resume a national dialogue that solicit the views and opinions of all Bahrainis," Toner told a news briefing.

Nabeel Rajab, head of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, said on Wednesday that al-Yousif, trade unionist Sana Abdul-Razzaq Zinedine and poet Ayat al-Qurmozi had been arrested.

Al-Yousif started an Internet campaign several years ago called "Just Bahraini" to combat sectarianism in the island kingdom, which has a Shi''ite majority and a government led by the Sunni al-Khalifa family.

The Gulf Arab state launched a crackdown two weeks ago on anti-government protesters who had been demonstrating and staging sit-ins for weeks. The government said 24 people were killed in clashes, while the opposition Wefaq party said 250 people have been detained and 44 have gone missing.

The United States, which maintains a navy base in Bahrain, has called on both sides to establish a credible political dialogue but progress has been slow after the ruling family declared martial law and called in troops from fellow Sunni-ruled Gulf neighbors including Saudi Arabia.

Toner said the United States continued to press for political talks.

"There's no security solution to the situation in Bahrain, it needs to be a political one," Toner said.

"The Bahraini government needs to engage in that kind of national dialogue, as does the opposition, in order to move this process forward, and arresting bloggers doesn't help in that respect."

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