TEHRAN, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Iran's influential cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said Monday that he would not lead Friday prayer this week, the official IRNA news agency reported.

    In an announcement released by Rafsanjani's office on Monday, Rafsanjani said that "in order to avoid probable (political) confrontations in the (prayer) ceremony of Friday," he would not lead the prayer this week, according to IRNA.

    In a Friday prayer in July, Rafsanjani, Iran's former president, called for a solution to current situation in Iran in the framework of law.

    "A large group of Iranians have doubts about last month's (June) disputed presidential election," Rafsanjani said during his Friday prayer address broadcasted live on state radio, "something should be done about the situation."

    He considered the reconstruction of people's trust as an important task.

    The powerful cleric also called for the release of protestors detained during the unrest after Iran's disputed presidential election in June.

    Numerous supporters of Iran's defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who is supported by Rafsanjani himself, rallied in central Tehran after Rafsanjani ended a sermon in the July Friday prayer ceremony.

    After the disputed June 12 presidential election, during which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won a landslide victory, Iran has witnessed the scene of a series of protests and unrest.