<p>Christine Assange accused Gillard of being out of step with global opinion over her son's work and warned she would face the wrath of voters if he did not apologise. <br /><br />"I really do think she (Gillard) could lose an election over this," Christine Assange was reported by The Australian Saturday as saying in a statement. <br /><br />"It is a sign of a mature person to stand up and say: 'Okay I was wrong, I apologise, I was wrong about this person'. That's what she should be doing."<br /><br />The mother added: "It would appear the prime minister is not only uninformed about one of her own highly honoured citizens but completely out of step with prevailing world opinion."<br /><br />Assange accused the prime minister of labelling her son a "criminal" and of defaming him in public.<br /><br />The statement comes at a time when the WikiLeaks founder prepares to face a court in London to determine whether or not he will be extradited to Sweden to face sex-related allegations.</p>.<p>Gillard has labelled the release of documents by WikiLeaks as "illegal" and "grossly irresponsible".<br /><br />An Australian Federal Police investigation found WikiLeaks had broken no domestic law.Julian Assange remains in good spirits, his mother said. "He's bearing up well, considering. <br /><br />"It's tying up his time and his money and it's taking a focus away from what he's trying to achieve regarding his work.<br /><br />"I think that is what he's finding frustrating, the fact it's diverting attention to petty things."</p>.<p>Julian Assange made a public appeal Friday night to Gillard to help bring him back to Australia from the UK, the ABC reported Saturday.<br /><br />"Julia Gillard should be taking active steps to bring me home and to protect our people," he told a public forum in Melbourne in a pre-recorded speech.<br /><br />"She should be contacting the US embassy and demanding that it back off."<br />Assange this week became only the third person in 14 years to be awarded the Sydney Peace Foundation's gold medal - an award previously given only to the Dalai Lama, <br />Nelson Mandela and Japanese Buddhist leader Daisaku Ikeda.<br /><br />The Sydney award was announced on the same day it was confirmed that Assange had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.<br /><br />He has been the recipient of several high-profile international awards, including Le Monde's Person of the Year 2010.<br /></p>
<p>Christine Assange accused Gillard of being out of step with global opinion over her son's work and warned she would face the wrath of voters if he did not apologise. <br /><br />"I really do think she (Gillard) could lose an election over this," Christine Assange was reported by The Australian Saturday as saying in a statement. <br /><br />"It is a sign of a mature person to stand up and say: 'Okay I was wrong, I apologise, I was wrong about this person'. That's what she should be doing."<br /><br />The mother added: "It would appear the prime minister is not only uninformed about one of her own highly honoured citizens but completely out of step with prevailing world opinion."<br /><br />Assange accused the prime minister of labelling her son a "criminal" and of defaming him in public.<br /><br />The statement comes at a time when the WikiLeaks founder prepares to face a court in London to determine whether or not he will be extradited to Sweden to face sex-related allegations.</p>.<p>Gillard has labelled the release of documents by WikiLeaks as "illegal" and "grossly irresponsible".<br /><br />An Australian Federal Police investigation found WikiLeaks had broken no domestic law.Julian Assange remains in good spirits, his mother said. "He's bearing up well, considering. <br /><br />"It's tying up his time and his money and it's taking a focus away from what he's trying to achieve regarding his work.<br /><br />"I think that is what he's finding frustrating, the fact it's diverting attention to petty things."</p>.<p>Julian Assange made a public appeal Friday night to Gillard to help bring him back to Australia from the UK, the ABC reported Saturday.<br /><br />"Julia Gillard should be taking active steps to bring me home and to protect our people," he told a public forum in Melbourne in a pre-recorded speech.<br /><br />"She should be contacting the US embassy and demanding that it back off."<br />Assange this week became only the third person in 14 years to be awarded the Sydney Peace Foundation's gold medal - an award previously given only to the Dalai Lama, <br />Nelson Mandela and Japanese Buddhist leader Daisaku Ikeda.<br /><br />The Sydney award was announced on the same day it was confirmed that Assange had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.<br /><br />He has been the recipient of several high-profile international awards, including Le Monde's Person of the Year 2010.<br /></p>