[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/17/art.rafsanjani.afp.gi.jpg caption="Rafsanjani remains an influential figure in Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's circle."]

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) - One of Iran's most powerful clerics, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, has called on the Iranian government 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."

Tens of thousands of people gathered in and around Tehran University as Rafsanjani spoke for about an hour, according to witnesses at the speech. Iranian police used tear gas to disperse some of the crowds.

Rafsanjani backs reformist Mir Hossein Moussavi, the opposition candidate who challenged hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the disputed June 12 vote.

After weeks of silence, Rafsanjani has become increasingly vocal in opposing the brutal crackdown on demonstrators who protested election results.

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Video: Watch more about Rafsanjani's sermon

[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/10/intv.iran.detained.athanasidis.art.jpg
caption="Athanasidis was detained, questioned and taken to Tehran's notorious Evin prison."]

In Iran, days of calm have been shattered. Thousands of demonstrators filled the streets of Tehran to protest last month's presidential election. Since the protest began, 1,000 people have been arrested, including some reporters. A freelance writer and photographer was covering the Iranian election when he was detained by the government. He was held for 20 days before being released.

Iason Athanasidis spoke with Joe John’s from Athens, Greece.

Joe Johns: Start at the beginning. It was about June 17 when you were detained. Could you walk us through it?

Iason Athanasidis: Well it was the last day of my press visa of my seven-day press visa. I was exiting the country with very mixed feelings because it was right in the middle of the most serious demonstrations. Heading to the airport I was picked up after passing through passport control by a gentleman who wasn’t wearing a uniform but said to me I wasn’t going to be flying tonight and there were a couple other gentlemen coming from Tehran who wanted to interview me.

Johns: You lived in Tehran for three years. You're familiar with people in the government. You have associations with them. So given the circumstances, was it a surprise to you or was it pretty predictable?

Athanasidis: I figure that I was one of the most vulnerable people on the ground there because I did not have a proper affiliation in a sense that I freelance for "The Washington Times" and a number of other newspapers. I also knew that because of my 2 1/2 years having lived in Iran, I would be considered of particular interest to the intelligence services. But by the same token, I felt this meant they knew me pretty well. I had several exhibitions of my photography there. I'm not just a journalist but also an artistic photographer and I think that they knew that I’ve been giving a lot of talks in the U.S. in the last year trying to explain Iran to a foreign audience. I thought it was quite unlikely they would be charging me with espionage or anything like that.

Johns: You were detained you were questioned. You were taken to the Evin prison. Could you describe that? It’s notorious with the people familiar with Iran. And give us some sense as to whether this is the kind of thing that would happen to demonstrators and protesters?

Athanasidis: Well, the place was chock full of demonstrators and protestors. In fact the third cell I was moved to, the last cell I was moved to, before I was freed, was an old, not used part of the prison reopened to deal with the excess capacity. I couldn't see around me when I was there because I had to wear a blind fold. I was initially being held in the intelligence ministry control part of the prison so all of the people there were supposedly undercover. I wasn't supposed to see them.

I could see under the bottom of the blind fold there were rows of prisoners sitting on the ground with their heads between their knees. There were other people were being interrogated in the corridors because there was just no capacity in the interrogator room. They were absolutely full to bursting. And at some point my interrogator turned to me and said the people who are being interrogated in the room next us are the terrorists in charge of trying to blow up one of the main mosques here in Tehran.

Johns: As I read about this, it sounds like you were fairly assertive with the people who were holding you. Were you confident enough to challenge them just a bit? And do you think that made any difference?

Athanasidis: Well perhaps there's a certain amount of naiveté on my part because I was convinced I had never done any kind of spying. My innocence would be proven and I would be allowed to go home. Since I've returned, I've had some doubts about the idea that I might have been used as a pawn for negotiations or anything like that. But certainly in terms of my second group of interrogators who were really very objective people, I felt and wanted to get a sort of a deep psychological understanding of what motivated me, I had trust in them. The first interrogator, I felt, decided I was guilty before I came in the room and all he wanted to do was find evidence against me. But in terms of the second and conclusive round, I felt they were objective.

Editor's Note: Michelle May is an American and Irish national who was briefly detained and questioned by the Basij while visiting Tehran this past Saturday amidst Iran's election protests.

[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/06/24/intv.michelle.may.cnn.art.jpg caption="Michelle May is an American and Irish national who was detained and questioned by the Basij in Tehran last Saturday."]

By: Michelle May
Special to CNN

The day after Iran's Supreme Leader delivered his Friday prayer at Tehran University the streets of Tehran felt eerily quiet. Although friends translated his prayer to me, I went to a net café to read western analysis of what the Ayatollah said. I tried to access CNN online, but the government had slowed down the Internet to keep Iranians feeling isolated that week.

As I waited for the news to load a young man named Ali offered to help me. I expressed my annoyance to him over the slowed Internet speed, and the fact that Facebook, Gmail, Twitter and the BBC had all been blocked. “Our government is very bad,” he said. I nodded my head slightly.

Just then CNN’s page miraculously loaded. The word “bloodshed” stuck out in the headline next to a photo of the white-bearded Supreme Leader. It wasn’t reassuring.

Ali helped me hail a taxi to Valiasr Square to meet a friend for coffee. The taxi quickly moved through streets that were normally clogged with gridlock traffic. As we approached my destination two motorbikes pulled up on both sides of the taxi, waving for us to pull over. They were Basiji men.

• Watch Michelle May on CNN's "American Morning"

An unfamiliar feeling of terror came over me the moment I recognized one of the men as Ali from the net café. The other three had all the classic Basiji traits: dark beards, husky builds, walkie-talkies, shirts buttoned up to the top, but un-tucked at the bottom for better access to pistols stored in the waist of their trousers.

Ali motioned for me to get out of the car. “No, no, no!” I cried, shaking my head, tears pouring down my face, my mouth going dry, my throat feeling as if it were going to close. Two other motorbikes with Basij came up behind us, along with another car. There were at least 10 of them and one of me. My mind started to race: Who do they possibly think I am, and what have I done for them to make such a production over me?

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[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/06/24/intv.michelle.may.cnn.art.jpg caption="Michelle May speaks to CNN's Kiran Chetry about being detained by the Basij in Tehran."]

Michelle May is an American and Irish national who was detained in Tehran this past Saturday during the election aftermath. She shared her experience with CNN’s "American Morning" live from Dubai Wednesday.

Kiran Chetry: So you had quite an interesting and at times terrifying experience in Tehran. This was your third trip to Iran. Tell us what happened when you went and what happened.

Michelle May: Kiran, I went because I had been there two times before and I feel very connected to the country and the people there. I have a lot of friends. So when I was watching the election, the run-up to the election and the election results, I just felt a real need to be there with my friends and I just wanted to be a part of what could possibly be history. So I made arrangements at the last minute.

Chetry: You had an Irish passport and you arrived days before those protests started. Explain what happened when you said you were riding in a cab. Your taxi was stopped, you were pulled from that taxi and you were questioned.

May: Yes. I was in a net cafe prior to that and this young man befriended me. I was trying to download CNN to find out – this is the day after the Ayatollah gave his prayer on Friday – I was trying to read about it on CNN and he was trying to help me. So he helped me hail a taxi to meet a friend for lunch. About half-an-hour into that ride the next thing I know, there are two motorbikes on either side of my taxi. He's on the back of one of them and three Basij guys are on the other and they pulled me over and I knew what was happening.

Of course I was terrified and I immediately started screaming saying "No, no, no." He got into the taxi, the one who spoke English, and he told me I need to get out and go with them and so I stood up to get out of the taxi, but then I thought I’ll make a scene on the street, maybe they'll leave me alone. However, that didn't work. I think because everyone's just terrified of the Basij right now. So they took me by either arm and they put me into a car that had pulled up. Then I was with them for a little bit over an hour.

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