Yoko Ono Honors Julian Assange With Special Annual Courage Award

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Yoko Ono honored Julian Assange at her Courage Awards for the Arts ceremony in New York on Sunday evening, calling the Wikileaks founder and political refugee "courageous" for his work.

Assange accepted in absentia, as he is currently in hiding in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London; he is in exile from Sweden, where he is facing allegations of rape and sexual assault.

"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," Ono said. "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."

Assange's Wikileaks has faced hostility from the United States government for its leak of sensitive documents. Assange, in a speech given by associates accepting the award on his behalf, dedicated the prize to the hackers working at the organization.

"Through their courage and wit they are revealing the true nature of our global human civilization," his statement said. "This is how we may reform it. Elevate it – and make it just, beyond its humble origins. Their courage in documenting war crimes, gross human rights violations, and the corruption of our societies is unequalled."

The evening also featured a tribute to Aaron Swartz, the co-founder of Reddit and Internet freedom activist who committed suicide in January as he faced federal charges for downloading documents from the MIT server.

A film about Assange called The Fifth Estate, which will star Benedict Cumberbatch, is currently in pre-production.

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Julian Assange Calls Bill Condon's Biopic The Fifth Estate A Massive Propadanda Attack

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Benedict Cumberbatch certainly looks the part in The Fifth Estate, in which he is playing notorious journalist Julian Assange, but apparently his subject is none too happy about the film. On Wednesday night Assange spoke during an Oxford Union debate via videolink and took part of his time to slam the upcoming movie, which is being directed by Oscar winning filmmaker Bill Condon.

According to Deadline, when the subject turned to the new DreamWorks film Assange called the project a "massive propaganda attack on WikiLeaks and the character of my staff." He claims to have read a copy of the script - though offered no evidence that he has one - and said that the project will be “fanning the flames” of international conflict due to the fact that the movie reportedly begins "inside a military complex in Iran with the suggestion a nuclear bomb is being built."

Production on the movie only began earlier this week, the studio also announcing that it will be coming out right in the heart of this year's Oscar race on November 15th of this year. In addition to Cumberbatch the film also stars Daniel Brühl, Laura Linney, Anthony Mackie, David Thewlis, Peter Capaldi, Dan Stevens, Alicia Vikander and Carice van Houten.

It's interesting that this would happen now, as just last week Prince Albert of Monaco and the rest of the royal family denounced the upcoming biopic Grace of Monaco, saying that the story is "pointlessly glamorized and contains important historical inaccuracies as well as scenes of pure fiction." I guess now is not the time to be in the business of making biopics.

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