On 21 September 2026, the International Committee in Search of Justice (ISJ) addressed a letter to Steffen Saebisch, Chair of the Executive Board of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, regarding the Foundation’s decision to confer its 2026 Freedom Award upon the people of Iran. The text of the letter follows:
Dear Mr Saebisch,
On behalf of the International Committee in Search of Justice (ISJ), we commend the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom for conferring its 2026 Freedom Award upon the people of Iran.
For more than a century, generations of Iranians have struggled for freedom, popular sovereignty, the rule of law and representative government. Their resistance to authoritarian rule encompasses the 53-year Pahlavi dynasty and nearly five decades of theocratic dictatorship.
Under the Shah, political pluralism was extinguished, opposition suppressed and SAVAK became synonymous with surveillance, imprisonment, torture and repression. The 1979 revolution ended the monarchy, but the clerical regime usurped the people’s aspirations and imposed an even more brutal dictatorship.
It is therefore fitting that the Foundation has chosen to recognise the Iranian people rather than any political personality or faction. We were consequently deeply dismayed to learn that Reza Pahlavi has been asked to receive the award “in trust” on their behalf.
Mr Pahlavi bears no responsibility for his father’s reign. The relevant issue concerns his own attitude towards that legacy. During a visit to Stockholm in April 2026, he declared himself proud of his heritage and the legacy he represents. In a subsequent Dutch television interview, he dismissed criticism of the Shah’s repression as propaganda and described his father as “one of the best leaders Iran ever had.”
These statements raise serious questions about his commitment to making an unequivocal break with dictatorship.
Further concerns arise from his February 2026 proposals for a post clerical transition. His proposed “Transitional System” would be established by decree under his leadership, with extensive authority across transitional institutions. Such concentration of power in one unelected individual raises fundamental questions about separation of powers, checks and balances and democratic accountability.
We are also concerned by the conduct of sections of his supporters. Some have displayed the name, flag or insignia of SAVAK with pride, while Iranian dissidents who reject both clerical dictatorship and renewed monarchy have faced harassment and intimidation. Such behaviour is incompatible with political pluralism and freedom of expression.
The Foundation’s own announcement provides the proper principle. The award should ultimately be entrusted to “the freely elected representatives of Iran.” We respectfully submit that this principle should apply today. Until Iranians can freely choose their representatives, no monarchist, republican or other political personality should be appointed to represent them.
Asking Mr Pahlavi to hold this award “in trust” symbolically grants him a representative mandate which the Iranian people themselves have never conferred.
We therefore respectfully urge the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom to reconsider this arrangement.
The people of Iran richly deserve this award for their long struggle against despotism and for the sacrifices of successive generations seeking freedom. Their country belongs neither to a Shah nor to a Supreme Leader, but to its people.
The Freedom Award should remain theirs alone until they are free to choose who represents them.
Yours sincerely,
