Gestapo

In Germany the next step after the establishing of the "Special Court" was the granting by the authorities to the Security Police, the "Gestapo", of special powers which placed them beyond the ordinary powers of the law. They were entitled to privileges and rights, particularly in the carrying out of their duties, and given powers over and above those normally given to police in the execution of their duties (Law of February 10th, 1936).The powers so given to the Gestapo by Himmler and Heydrich prevented the Court from interfering in any way with the police. They could not interdict the police in the carrying out of their duties or question the police in the actions that they had taken, as this would be against the security of the State. In the interpretation of the exercise of their powers, Dr Weiner Best, Himmler's right-hand man, was quoted as saying: "As long as a policeman carries out the will of the leadership, his actions are legal". The Courts were powerless to interfere even if they wanted to.

In South Africa Habeus Corpus disappeared and the Court's jurisdiction was removed by, for instance, Section 6(5) of the Terrorism Act, which says simply: "No Court of Law shall pronounce upon the validity of any action taken under this Section or order the release of any detainee". The 90-day and 180-day detention clauses had similar provisions. In addition, the Terrorism Act is retroactive, passed on the 21st June, 1967, it was retrospective in effect to the 27th June, 1962. Numerous allegations have been made before our Courts concerning interrogations of detainees throughout the night and of the Security Police committing serious assaults against detainees detained under these detention powers.