Rafsanjani calls for the release of post-election prisoners

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) - Iran's powerful cleric Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani called on Iran to release those people arrested following last month's disputed presidential election.

"There is no need to have these numbers of people in prison," the former Iranian president said during his highly anticipated Friday sermon.

"Let them come back to their families. Let the enemy not laugh at us and criticize us. We must sympathize with those who have suffered damages. The system cannot lose them. If the system reapproaches them they will come back to us."