The mother of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange wants Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to make a full apology to her son amid growing international praise of his work.
Mr 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, Nelson Mandela and Japanese Buddhist leader Daisaku Ikeda.
The Sydney award was announced on the same day it was confirmed that Mr Assange had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
He has been the recipient of several high-profile international awards, including Le Monde's Person of the Year 2010.
Mr Assange's mother accused Ms Gillard of being "out of step" with global opinion over her son and said she should apologise - or face losing the support of voters.
The federal government has previously said both the initial leaking to WikiLeaks of confidential documents and the website's subsequent publishing were illegal.
Ms Gillard has personally labelled the release of documents by WikiLeaks as "illegal" and "grossly irresponsible".
An Australian Federal Police investigation found WikiLeaks had broken no domestic law.
"I really do think she (Ms Gillard) could lose an election over this," Christine Assange told AAP on Saturday.
"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."
In a statement Ms Assange added: "It would appear that the prime minister is not only uninformed about one of her own highly honoured citizens but also completely out of step with prevailing world opinion."
Ms Assange accused the prime minister of labelling her son a "criminal" and of defaming him in public.
It comes as the WikiLeaks founder prepares to face a court in London to determine whether or not he will be extradited to Sweden to face sexual-related allegations.
Mr Assange remains in good spirits, his mother said.
"He's bearing up well, considering," Ms Assange said.
"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.
"I think that is what he's finding frustrating, the fact it's diverting attention to petty things."
Mr Assange made a public appeal on Friday night to Ms Gillard to help bring him back to Australia from the UK, the ABC reported on Saturday.
"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.
"She should be contacting the US embassy and demanding that it back off."
Meanwhile, pro-WikiLeaks supporters gathered in the Australian capital, Canberra, on Saturday, to voice support for the website and Mr Assange.
"WikiLeaks is only doing what's right. We have a right to know what the rich and powerful are doing behind our backs," Jason Andrews, spokesperson for the Canberra Support WikiLeaks Coalition said.
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