Deposed shah’s son receives award on behalf of the Iranian people

Iranian opposition politician Reza Pahlavi accepted the Friedrich Naumann Foundation's Freedom Prize in the German city of Frankfurt on behalf of the Iranian people on Saturday against the backdrop of large demonstrations.

He accepted the award in recognition of the Iranian people's resistance to oppression by the hardline Islamist government in Tehran.

The foundation - which has close ties to the German liberal party, the Free Democrats (FDP) - awarded the prize in recognition of the people's commitment to freedom.

The award was given as some 5,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Frankfurt, the majority of whom were Pahlavi's supporters, the police said. They plan to hold a rally in the city later on Saturday.

Pahlavi, who lives in exile in the US, is a son of the former shah, who was deposed in 1979. He has put himself forward as a transitional leader should the current regime in Tehran be overthrown, but many view him critically, not least because of the country's past under his autocratic father.

Speaking at the ceremony in Frankfurt's historic St Paul's Church, Pahlavi announced that one day he would place the award in the hands of the Iranian people "not on foreign soil, but in our capital, Tehran."

The audience, consisting largely of people of Iranian origin, repeatedly drowned out the ceremony with chants of "Long live the shah, long live Iran!"

FDP Member of the European Parliament Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann emphasized that Pahlavi had always said that the Iranian people themselves should decide their own future.