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A supporter of Mir Hossein Mousavi hides her face using a poster of him during an election rally in Tehran, Iran, in 2009. Ben Curtis / AP file

Amid a crackdown by police, the protests ultimately came to naught. But two years later, opposition lodestar Mousavi was placed under house arrest after calling for protests in solidarity with the pro-democracy Arab Spring in Egypt and Tunisia.

Mehdi Karroubi, another reformist who ran in 2005 and 2009 and also challenged the outcome, was also detained, along with their families.

Little has been seen or heard of Mousavi since, save from a photograph of him lying in a hospital bed in 2014 following reports he was suffering from a heart condition.

But he lives large in the minds of many of

Iran's current president, the centrist Hassan Rouhani, told his supporters this week that he would "kiss the supreme leader's hands 10 times if necessary in order to free political prisoners."

He was referring to Mousavi.

The detainee's name has also been invoked by Rouhani's supporters, who have chanted "Ya Hossein, Ya Hossein" in support of Mousavi. Their cheers could also be seen as defiance of the supreme leader and Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, who are said to back Rouhani's conservative opponent, Ebrahim Raisi.

At

Layla Daryafarghi, a 19-year-old journalism student, was 11 during the 2009 crackdown. She said she came to the Rouhani rally because she wanted to speak out for freedom, to support Mousavi, and also to support Mohammad Khatami, the reformer who was president of Iran from 1997 to 2005.

"We all want to show that we want to have freedom. We want to say to all the world, we love our country and we want it to be free," said Daryafarghi. "For me it's for Mr. Khatami and for Mr. Mousavi, but I think that all of [us] think [Rouhani] is going to do something different."

She added that she wanted the current centrist to govern for another term.

"Four years was not enough for the things he said he wanted to do," she said. "He wants more time to show us he can do anything."

Women flash the victory sign as they wait to cast their ballots in the Iranian presidential elections at a polling station in Tehran on Friday. ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH / EPA

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Iran Election: Mousavi Looms Over Vote Years After Detention ... - NBCNews.com