Frankfurt (Germany) (AFP) - The son of the former Shah of Iran received the “Freedom Prize” granted to the Iranian people on Saturday in Frankfurt, while critics questioned the legitimacy of his selection to receive the award.

Published on: 07/11/2026 - 14:29 Last updated: 07/11/2026 - 15:11

About 18,000 demonstrators gathered, according to police estimates, to greet Pahlavi upon his arrival in the German city to receive the award, and many of them chanted slogans in support of him and waved Iranian flags that were in force before the Islamic Revolution.

Reza Pahlavi received the award granted by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, an activist organization close to the liberal Free Democratic Party.

Pahlavi said in St. Paul's Church, which hosted the first elected parliament in Germany between 1848 and 1849, that Iran "is not a country waiting for someone to teach it democracy, but rather it is a country that is prevented from practicing it."

He added, amid applause from the audience, "A people willing to die for their right to vote is a people willing to exercise this right."

Anti-government protests broke out in Iran late last year, and were met with a violent crackdown by security forces in January, which according to human rights organizations resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands.

Pahlavi's voice trembled with emotion as he spoke about the families of the dead, some of whom were present in the hall.

He told the institution awarding the award, "You will not find a people who understand the meaning of the word 'freedom' more than this people."

But Pahlavi's receipt of the award was not welcomed by everyone, despite the clear support for him in the streets of Frankfurt.

Reza Pahlavi's father, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was the last Shah of Iran. He was an authoritarian ruler who fled into exile in 1979 following an Islamic revolution led by Imam Khomeini that overthrew the monarchy.

Some also criticize Pahlavi for his outspoken support for Israel, and for what they consider to be his insufficient distance from the authoritarian era that characterized his father's rule.

- “Dictatorship is gone” -

About 200 prisoners in Iran signed a letter protesting Pahlavi’s receipt of this award, considering it a symbol of a “gone dictatorship,” according to what Sahar Industrial, spokeswoman for the Association of Germans and Iranians in the state of Hesse, said.

The Frankfurt branches of the Social Democratic Party and the Green Party boycotted the event, saying that Pahlavi could not be considered a legitimate representative of the Iranian people.

For its part, the branch of the far-left Die Linke party in Frankfurt stated that a church should not host this event, pointing to city laws that prevent houses of worship from hosting events of a political nature.

In a speech he delivered on Saturday, Pahlavi explained that he accepts the award as a “trustee” only, until a democratically elected government is formed in Iran.

“I am only keeping it temporarily,” he said, adding, “One day, I will place it in the hands of its rightful owners, not on foreign soil, but in the capital, Tehran.”

© 2026 AFP

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