THE 13TH FAES FREEDOM AWARD PRESENTED TO ROSA MARÍA PAYÁ, YULIA NAVALNAYA AND MASIH ALINEJAD

Former Spanish Prime Minister and President of the FAES Foundation José María Aznar presented the 13th FAES Freedom Award on 16 October to three women who, despite coming from very different circumstances, share a common cause: defending freedom against authoritarianism. The event also featured speeches by FAES Director and MEP Javier Zarzalejos and former Foreign Minister Ana Palacio.

During the ceremony, Aznar warned that threats to freedom come not only from dictatorships but also from attitudes of submission that weaken democracies. “Those who foster servility always push democracy in an illiberal direction,” he said. He also praised the independence and moral authority of the award recipients: “When you have moral authority, you do not need anyone to empower you.”

For his part, Javier Zarzalejos highlighted the recipients’ determination and the strength of those who confront authoritarianism. “Autocracies are mistaken when they rely on the supposed weakness of women,” he said, and also “when they underestimate the value of freedom, a seemingly fragile cause that is, in reality, the driving force behind the finest chapters of human history”.

The three recipients offered testimonies reflecting different expressions of the same struggle. Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, warned that, despite their differences, all dictatorships ultimately behave in the same way, and appealed for unity and solidarity among those defending democracy. Rosa María Payá championed the legacy of her father, Oswaldo Payá, and the right of the Cuban people to decide their future freely: “Dictators will not decide the future of Cubans: the people have not given up their freedom.” Masih Alinejad, meanwhile, denounced repression by the Iranian regime, the persecution of her own family and the growing cooperation between authoritarian governments against democracies.

The recognition of these three women went beyond an individual tribute. It also reaffirmed the universal value of freedom, the defence of the rule of law and the responsibility of democracies towards those who risk their lives for these principles.

As Zarzalejos put it, “the streets of Tehran, Havana and Moscow will speak in peace sooner rather than later, and will tell us the stories of all those men and women who took to the streets to rebel against humiliation, to defend their dignity and to cry out for their freedom”.

The 13th FAES Freedom Award thus recognised the courage of three extraordinary women and served as a reminder that, even in the face of the most repressive regimes, the aspiration to live in freedom remains a force capable of challenging tyranny.