Son of Iran's shah receives 'Freedom Prize' in Frankfurt

Iranian opposition leader Reza Pahlavi on Saturday received a "Freedom Prize" in Frankfurt in the central German state of Hesse.

Some 18,000 people rallied to show support for Reza Pahlavi, according to a police statement.

The event was held at St Paul's Church. The building hosted the Germany's first-ever elected parliament in 1848-1849, known as the Frankfurt Assembly.

Pahlavi is the son of the last shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, an autocrat who fled into exile after being deposed in a 1979 revolution.

The 1979 revolution was followed by the transformation of Iran into an Islamic republic and the consolidation of power around the Shiite Muslim clergy.

Pahlavi was handed the prize by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, which is tied to the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP).

Pahlavi said that Iran "is a country not waiting to be taught democracy, this is a country being prevented from practicing it."

"A people ready to die for the right to vote is willing to exercise the right to vote," he said.

Rights groups say thousands were killed in a government crackdown on protests in January.

"You could not have chosen a people who better understand the meaning of the word 'freedom,'" he said.

He also stressed that he was receiving the prize only as a "trustee" until a democratically-elected government comes to power in Iran.

"I hold it only temporarily," he said. "One day I will place it in the hands of its rightful owners, not on foreign soil but in the capital, Tehran."

The speech was accompanied by chants of "Long live the shah, long live Iran!" from the crowd.

Pahlavi has in the past offered to lead a transitional government in the event of a democratic transition in the West Asian country and has said he does not aim to use this proposed position to reinstate the Iranian monarchy under his father's dynasty, instead planning to leave the decision to a later referendum.

While Pahlavi has emerged as a figurehead for factions within the anti-government protest movement, others have criticized him for his vocal support for Israel and have accused him of failing to distance himself from his father's autocratic rule.

Around 200 prisoners held in Iran signed a letter protesting Pahlavi's receipt of the prize, Sahar Sanaie, spokeswoman for the Society for German-Iranians in Hesse, was cited by the AFP news agency as saying.

The letter described him as the symbol of a "bygone dictatorship."

The Frankfurt branches of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the environmentalist Greens boycotted the event and said he could not be considered a legitimate representative of the Iranian people.