WikiLeaks founder wins Australian rights prize
LONDON - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been awarded the Sydney Peace Foundation's gold medal, an Australian human rights award.
The Sydney Peace Foundation has been awarding prizes for 14 years and some of its highest profile honorees include anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama.
Director Stuart Rees told invitees to London's Frontline Club on Tuesday that his foundation's gold medal was meant as a reward for "an unusual act ... that challenges conformity to political or cultural orthodoxy."
Assange has seriously embarrassed U.S. officials by revealing hundreds of thousands of secret military and diplomatic documents.
He is fighting extradition to Sweden on sex crime allegations.