The charges can carry a prison sentence of up to two years. In October it was reported that he was being detained on charges of espionage. Political trials in Iran fall far short of international standards for fairness. No information is given to detainees about the reasons for arrest and they are not notified of the charges against them until months, sometimes years, later. Access to lawyers is almost always denied.
Judges have authority for the prosecution in public and revolutionary courts.
Defendants do not have the right to confront their accusers or the right to appeal. Summary trials of 5 minutes are common, and some trials are conducted in secret. Abuses by non-government entities Street gangs and mobs have been used to intimidate opponents of the regime. Paramilitary vigilante groups known as the hezbollahi and basiji harass public speakers. In 1995 vigilantes incited a crowd to attack prominent Islamic intellectual Abdol Karim Soroush, who was delivering a speech in a mosque in Tehran on Shiite theologian Ali Shariati.