Argentina blasts UK's arrogance in Assange affair

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Argentina's Ambassador to Britain Alicia Castro on Tuesday criticized the British government's "arrogance" in dealing with the eye-catching Assange affair.

In an interview with a Buenos Aires radio, Castro said the diplomatic conflict between Britain and Ecuador, as a result of the latter's decision to grant WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange political asylum, "resembles its declarations regarding the Malvinas question, with which Britain also disregards international law."

Both Britain and Argentina claimed ownership of the Malvinas Islands -- called Falklands Islands by Britain -- and Britain has repeatedly ignored United Nations resolutions to address the issue.

Regarding Assange, Britain initially threatened to storm Ecuador's embassy in London, where the freedom-of-information activist has been seeking refuge since June 19, but retracted the threat last Saturday after countries throughout Latin America condemned the warning.

"To Argentinians, the threat shows the arrogance of British diplomacy. We are not surprised by it," said Castro.

Britain says it must hand over Assange to Sweden for questioning in two sexual misconduct cases brought against him, but Assange fears Swedish authorities will extradite him to the United States, where he could be prosecuted and possibly sentenced to death for having revealed US military secret documents through his website.