The first picture has been published of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi since his strict house arrest in February 2011.
Mousavi was taken to hospital last month for a heart condition and returned to his home after check-ups.
The main challenger to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the disputed 2009 Presidential election, Mousavi has been held with his wife — the activist, academic, and artist Zahra Rahnavard.Fellow 2009 candidate Mehdi Karroubi has also been confined for 39 months.
Doctors and Mousavi’s three daughters have expressed fears over Mousavi’s health, saying that medical care is inadequate in the Mousavi-Rahnavard home.
The daughters have complained that they had not been able to meet or speak since the latest hospitalization and have claimed that their father has been beaten.
Hardliners have pushed back on President Rouhani’s campaign promise to free political prisoners, warning that they will never accept the freedom of Mousavi and Karroubi as “leaders of sedition” — the term for the mass protests after the 2009 election.