Assange awarded Sydney Peace Foundation's top honour
11 May 2011
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks was today awarded the Sydney Peace Foundation's top honour for "exceptional courage in pursuit of human rights." With the honour, Assange joins the likes of Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama, the earlier awardees.
The former Australian computer hacker, currently fighting extradition to Sweden from Britain over alleged sex crimes, was praised for the initiative and awarded the Sydney Peace Prize's Gold Medal.
Although the Peace Prize is an annual award of the foundation, only three others before him have been awarded the gold medal for courage in pursuit of human rights -- the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela and Japanese Buddhist leader Daisaku Ikeda.
The foundation paid rich tributes for Assange's determination in seeking greater transparency and accountability from governments around the world, and for having challenged "centuries old practices of government secrecy".
"By championing people's right to know, WikiLeaks and Julian Assange have created the potential for a new order in journalism and in the free flow of information," said foundation director Stuart Rees.
Assange founded the WikiLeaks whistleblowing website that published thousands of cables in which US diplomats gave their often candid views on world leaders, to the acute embarrassment of Washington.
The website has also leaked a huge number of secret documents regarding the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Assange, was arrested in London at Sweden's request in December and remains on bail. His challenge to a British judge's decision to extradite him over allegations of sexual assault will be heard in July.