The Sydney Peace Foundation has awarded its gold medal for ‘peace with justice’ to controversial WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange.<\/p>\n
The citation reads, ‘For exceptional courage and initiative in pursuit of human rights.’ The award is expected to be made to Assange in Sydney in mid May or at a ceremony in London later this year.<\/p>\n
This award is distinct from the annual Sydney Peace Prize. In its 14-year history the Foundation has awarded this gold medal on three previous occasions, to the Dalai Lama (1998); Nelson Mandela (2000) and Japanese lay Buddhist leader Daisaku Ikeda (2009).<\/p>\n
Foundation Director, Professor Stuart Rees says Assange was told of the Human Rights Award while the WikiLeaks founder was in jail awaiting a UK bail hearing on extradition matters.<\/p>\n
He says Assange’s moral was raised considerably on hearing the news.<\/p>\n
Prof Rees says Assange’s work is in the Tom Paine Rights of Man and Daniel Ellsberg Pentagon Papers tradition – challenging the old order of power in politics and in journalism.<\/p>\n
Prof Rees says Assange has championed people’s right to know and has challenged the centuries-old tradition that governments are entitled to keep the public in a state of ignorance.<\/p>\n
He says in the Paine, Ellsberg and Assange cases, those in power moved quickly to silence their critics even by perverting the course of justice.<\/p>\n
Assange is currently being investigated by a US grand jury. In 1792 a grand jury in the UK indicted Paine for sedition for publishing the Rights of Man.<\/p>\n
Paine’s work was regarded by politicians of the time as evidence of ‘a dangerous and treasonable conspiracy.’ This was later shown to be a fabrication by ministers who exercised an illegal influence over the grand jury.<\/p>\n
WikiLeaks’ revelations have included video of the killings from a US Apache helicopter of 17 civilians in Baghdad; corrupt practices by former Kenyan President Moi; US government plans to promote genetically modified crops and the Israeli government’s plans for war against Hamas or Hezbollah.<\/p>\n
The Sydney Peace Foundation concluded that Julian Assange’s journalism has made a historically significant contribution to the operation of democracy.<\/p>\n
It says Wikileaks has exposed the extent to which governments, the military and business all over the world have used “secrecy” to cloak their real intentions and activities.<\/p>\n
Julian Assange will appear at Belmarsh Magistrates Court in London on 7th February in an action titled Sweden v. Assange.<\/p>\n
Assange won bail at an earlier hearing but is wanted for questioning on sexual assault charges which his supporters say are trumped-up to divert attention from WikiLeaks’ revelations.<\/p>\n
Professor Rees says the Sydney Peace Foundation never makes awards by proxy and intends to deliver the Award to Assange in person whether it be in Australia or the UK.<\/p>\n