Criticism of the 2026 Freedom Prize: Human Rights Activists Call for the Prize to Be Awarded to Iran’s Minorities Instead of Reza Pahlavi

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) welcomes the Friedrich Naumann Foundation’s (FNS) decision to dedicate the 2026 Freedom Prize to the Iranian people on November 7. However, according to the human rights organization, the decision to honor Reza Pahlavi—the son of the Shah, who was overthrown in 1979—as a representative of the Iranian people misses the prize’s goal of honoring those who stand up for their rights, their freedom, and an open and democratic society in Iran. Nor does the FNS’s statement that Pahlavi will accept the prize only “in a fiduciary capacity” refute the criticism.

“Awarding Reza Pahlavi the Freedom Prize on behalf of the Iranian people is a complete mistake. He has never clearly and unequivocally distanced himself from his father’s dictatorship and crimes. Furthermore, it remains unclear what political system he would seek to establish following a possible overthrow of the mullah regime. His statements regarding a ‘secular democracy’ do not adequately answer this question,” said Dr. Kamal Sido, Middle East Advisor at the STP, today in Göttingen.

“Iran is a multi-ethnic state in which, alongside the Persian majority, members of many different ethnic groups and religious communities live, including Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Baloch, Turkmen, Assyrians, Armenians, Arab Ahwazis, as well as Christians, Bahá’ís, and Zoroastrians. This must be recognized by all sides. There is no such thing as a homogeneous ‘Iranian people,’” Sido emphasized. Many members of Iran’s minority groups, who make up about half the population, want a democratic new beginning rather than a return to the authoritarian rule of the Shah’s regime. “Those who, like the FDP and the FNS, advocate for political pluralism must also recognize the diversity of peoples, ethnic groups, and religious communities and must not lump all communities together as the ‘Iranian people,’ as Persian nationalists do.”

“The Friedrich Naumann Foundation could have sent an important signal for diversity and democracy in Iran by presenting the award to representatives of Iranian minorities instead of to a man who espouses reactionary ideas. In particular, it could have honored the efforts of Kurdish women in Iran, who today are at the forefront of the Iranian freedom and democracy movement,” said the Middle East Advisor.

In this context, the STP appeals to FDP Secretary-General Bijan Djir-Sarai, who is scheduled to deliver the laudatory address at the award ceremony on November 7 at Frankfurt’s Paulskirche, as well as to FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, to call on Reza Pahlavi in their speeches to unequivocally advocate for a democratic, federal Iran that guarantees self-government and autonomy to all the peoples of Iran.

Furthermore, Pahlavi must apologize for the atrocities committed by the Shah’s regime and the former imperial secret service SAVAK, for the brutal suppression of the political opposition, for the torture and murders, and above all for the genocidal crimes against the Kurds in the 1940s and thereafter. In 1946, the Shah’s regime had destroyed the first Kurdish republic (the Republic of Mahabad) in Iran and, with the support of the United States and Great Britain, executed the leaders of that republic. In the years that followed, there were expulsions, executions, and bans on Kurdish culture and language. Entire Kurdish communities were wiped out.