11 May 2011

Peace award for Assange

2:34 pm on 11 May 2011

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been given a peace award for exceptional courage in the pursuit of human rights.

Mr Assange was awarded the Sydney Peace Foundation's gold medal in London. It was only the fourth to be given in its 14 year history.

He was praised for challenging government secrecy and championing people's right to know.

The whistle-blowing website enraged Washington by publishing thousands of secret United States diplomatic cables.