In the 1997 presidential elections, Rafsanjani supported Mohammad Khatami. During the 2009 Iranian election protests, Reuters reported that Rafsanjani addressed a crowd at a banned opposition rally in Tehran on 16 June, and was subsequently prohibited from leaving the country. She was arrested and briefly detained at least twice after participating in an opposition rallies in Tehran on 20 June 2009 (together with four relatives), and again on 20 February 2010 after "making blunt statements and chanting provocative slogans," according to Iranian state media. She was again arrested in February 2011. In March 2011, her son, Hassan, was also arrested.