The courts were established in response to a report submitted to the UK Parliament in December 1972 by Lord Diplock,[6] which addressed the issue of dealing with physical force Irish republicanism through means other than internment (which had been implemented in August 1971).
We have no evidence of this or of perversity in juries ...[10]The establishment of the Diplock Courts can be seen as an early example of the Provisional Irish Republican Army's (IRA's) long-term aim of making "the Six Counties ... ungovernable except by colonial military rule".
In the first case in which a person not associated with the Troubles was tried and convicted, Abbas Boutrab, a suspected al-Qaeda sympathiser, was found guilty of having information that could assist bombing an airliner.
[16] Sinn Féin pressed for this in the agreement negotiations, arguing that lack of juries denied accused republicans of the right to a fair trial.
[1][18] The Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007 abolished the idea of "scheduled offences" automatically tried without a jury.
Instead it allows for the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland to certify a non-jury trial for any indictable offence provided it was committed either from a motive of "religious or political hostility" or by on behalf of a group which is both proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000 and "connected with the affairs of Northern Ireland".