The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom is awarding its 2026 Freedom Prize to the Iranian people, the German liberal political foundation announced on Monday.
Reza Pahlavi, son of the former Shah of Iran and one of the best-known representatives of the Iranian opposition, is to accept the prize in trust on their behalf. The award is to be presented at Frankfurt’s St Paul’s Church on November 7.
The foundation said it deliberately chose not to honour a single individual, but rather the many Iranians who have stood up for freedom, their rights and an open and democratic society.
The prize is intended for people who have been killed, persecuted or imprisoned in the struggle against the Iranian government, it said.
Women, students, journalists, workers and families who had resisted were singled out for recognition.
Foundation board member Steffen Saebisch said the award would honour the will for freedom of many hundreds of thousands of people who risked, and continue to risk, their lives to overthrow the Tehran’s clerical government.
The prize was also an appeal to the international community to protect the rights of Iranians and support their demands for freedom, the foundation said.
Pahlavi is the son of Iran’s last Shah, who was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution. He has lived in exile in the United States for decades.
The Freedom Prize has been awarded every two years since 2006 for outstanding commitment to a liberal civil society.