Nobel Peace prize winner Mairead Maguire collected the award on the Australian's behalf at an event in the European parliament in Strasbourg.

Kristinn Hrafnsson, WikiLeaks editor, said: "Through WikiLeaks Julian Assange's vision of transparency has revolutionalised journalism.

"His imprisonment and threatened extradition to the United States has drawn a sharp line in the sand. You are either encouraging the crackdown on media freedom or you are standing with Julian Assange."

Last year the Galizia prize was jointly awarded to murdered Slovak journalist Jan Kuciak and LuxLeaks whistleblower Raphael Halet.

Assange had lived inside the embassy for almost seven years before his diplomatic asylum was revoked.