Yoko Ono showed her support for Julian Assange on
Sunday night by honouring the WikiLeaks founder with a special award.
Ono announced during her Courage Awards for the Arts ceremony in
New York that the embattled editor was the recipient of the top
accolade in recognition of his "courageous" work.
Assange accepted the award in absentia as he is currently
residing in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he is fighting his
extradition to Sweden on sex assault charges.
Ono urged the audience to support Assange and his whistleblowing
website, which hit headlines across the globe for leaking top secret
and classified documents from military and international government
sources.
She declared, "Our public officials have forgotten that they are
ultimately accountable to the people who put them in office; that the
information they keep in secrecy belongs to all of us.
"Julian Assange took a courageous step by rightfully returning
what belongs to the public domain. For that reason, I believe we need to
stand behind him."
Ono launched the prizegiving in 2009 to recognise artists who
demonstrated courage in their work, despite pressure to succumb to
commercial and political constraints.
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