D'Amato went so far as to call the
Diplock courts "kangaroo
However, like the
Diplock courts, military commissions had
Diplock courts see judges sitting alone to hear offences associated with terrorism, such as murder and firearms crime
The abrogation of jury trials in Northern Ireland through the creation of the
Diplock courts in 1973 was one of the most fundamental encroachments on the protection of due process rights in the jurisdiction.(152) The
Diplock courts have been plagued by controversy since their inception.(153) In addition to the coercive arrest and detention process, concerns about judicial case-handling, the high level of confession-based convictions, and the manipulation of the rules of evidence to ensure convictions have severely discredited the courts both domestically and internationally.(154)
"You couldn't get past them but as I went to get to my car it was too good an opportunity to miss so I confronted Adams about why his party are doing nothing about the injustice of
Diplock Courts in 2010.
Mowlam also intends to change the law so that more offences go before jury trials rather than the judge-only
Diplock Courts.
It was partly for this reason, and to boost the rate and speed of convictions, that the government created the so-called Anti-Somocista Popular Tribunals--the kangaroo courts which try wartime Public Order offenses and which closely parallel Northern Ireland's
Diplock courts.
In Northern Ireland, no-jury
Diplock courts were set up in the 70s as a way of overcoming suspected jury nobbling, mainly in IRA trials.
An exception is Northern Ireland's
Diplock courts, set up to counter paramilitary threats.
A spokesman for the Court Service said the new arrangements were introduced after the abolition of non-jury
Diplock courts earlier this year.
DIPLOCK Courts are to end in two years - unless MPs veto the move.
He added: "This has to be set in the context of RUC interrogation techniques in Strand Road and Castlereagh and it also highlights an expressed willingness of
Diplock courts to take confession-type statements to send republicans to jail."