WikiLeaks faces prosecution calls as backlash mounts

Fav Tag: Wikileaks PARIS: The founder of WikiLeaks faced calls for his prosecution on Tuesday as governments around the world closed ranks against the whistleblowing webist over its mass release of secret US diplomatic cables.

Japan echoed its key ally the United States in describing the leaks as "criminal" and said governments alone had the right to decide on the release of sensitive documents.

But WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange, who defended the decision to reveal some 250,000 diplomatic cables, found support from leftist governments in South America, including an offer for sanctuary as the backlash widened.

Top US diplomat Hillary Clinton arrived early Tuesday in Kazakhstan's capital Astana for a summit of the 54-member Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) which has taken on the appearance of a diplomatic damage limitation exercise.

Clinton, who earlier accused WikiLeaks of an "attack" on the US and the world, vowed to reassure dozens of allies that Washington remains a credible partner despite the massive leak of secret diplomatic cables.

"Obviously this is a matter of great concern because we don't want anyone in any of the countries that could be affected by these alleged leaks to have any doubts about our intentions, and about our commitments," she told reporters.

In an article published in several Kuwaiti newspapers, the US ambassador Deborah Jones moved to limit the damage by emphasising Washington's "strong and enduring partnership" with the desert kingdom.

Leaks showed Kuwait's interior minister did not want the US to return Kuwaiti suspects held in Guantanamo Bay and "the best thing to do is to get rid of them."

Japan's Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara told a new conference: "It's just outrageous. It's a criminal act."

US officials insisted they would pursue WikiLeaks creator Assange, an Australian believed to be living in Europe, if he is found to have violated US law.

Assange described the mass of documentation in an interview with Forbes magazine as a "diplomatic history of the United States" covering "every major issue."

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, a long-time US critic, praised Assange while Ecuador even offered the 39-year-old sanctuary.

"We are going to invite him to come to Ecuador so he can freely present the information he possesses and all the documentation, not just over the Internet but in a variety of public forums," Kintto Lucas, Ecuador's deputy foreign minister, told the Internet site Ecuadorinmediato.

An international arrest warrant was issued in mid-November for Assange on suspicion of rape and sexual molestation of two women in Sweden.