Defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi will take part in this week's Friday prayers led by former president Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani.

In a statement issued by his website Ghalamnews on Wednesday, the country's last prime minister, who placed second in Iran's June 12 presidential election, announced that he would join the lines of worshippers for this week's Friday prayers.

Mousavi said he would attend the prayers as he feels 'obliged' to respond to calls concerning the path of defending the 'legitimate rights to a free and decent living.'

He further called on the nation to 'hold fast to the rope of Allah,' describing it as the best possible means to revive what he called 'our unfairly deprived rights' with regard to the presidential election.

Chairman of the Expediency Council and head of the Assembly of Experts, Ayatollah Rafsanjani, will lead this week's Friday prayers after an absence of eight weeks.

AR/JG/AKM