LONDON – WikiLeaks' Australian founder Julian Assange, who
enraged Washington by publishing thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic
cables, was given a peace award on Tuesday for "exceptional courage in
pursuit of human rights."
Assange was awarded the Sydney Peace Foundation's gold medal in London,
only the fourth to be handed out in its 14-year history. The
not-for-profit organization associated with the University of Sydney,
is supported by the City of Sydney.
Currently fighting extradition from Britain to Sweden over alleged sex
crimes, the computer expert was praised for "challenging centuries old
practices of government secrecy and by championing people's right to
know."
"We think the struggle for peace with justice inevitably involves
conflict, inevitably involves controversy," the foundation's director
Professor Stuart Rees said.
"We think that you and WikiLeaks have brought about what we think is a
watershed in journalism and in freedom of information and potentially
in politics."
He also criticized the Australian government, saying it must stop
shoring up Washington's efforts to "behave like a totalitarian state,"
and said it was "appalled by the violent behavior by major politicians
in the United States."
WikiLeaks caused a media and diplomatic uproar late last year when it
began to publish its cache of more than 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables,
revealing secrets such as that Saudi leaders had urged U.S. military
action against Iran.
Some American politicians said WikiLeaks should be defined as an international terrorist organization.
Assange himself claimed publication of the cables helped shape
uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East and said WikiLeaks was on
the side of justice.
Other winners include Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama. Reuters
