South Africa's judicial experiment with its special 'World Cup Courts' is drawing plenty of heat in the international press as swift sentences, of up to 15 years imprisonment, mostly to foreigners, have been handed down by the special World Cup courts. And that's not all, some are livid that the courts appear to be tied way too close and are, in effect, acting as a strongarm mafia for the commercial interests of FIFA, the governing body for world soccer. For instance two Dutch women are appearing in court today on charges of ambush marketing and face six months in prison. The Dutch women were handcuffed after 36 cute, young blondes were caught in the stands at a World Cup match, wearing the bright orange mini skirts of Dutch brewer, Bavaria. However, the brewer’s logo was tiny and barely visible - yet the women were accused of violating the monopoly of the official FIFA sponsors. The Foreign Minister of the Netherlands, got in the fray and announced that it was “disproportionate” to arrest the two Dutch women and put them on trial for breaching the monopoly of a World Cup sponsor.

Geoffrey York, from The Globe and Mail in Canada writes:

"Ticket-scalpers, mini-skirted Dutch blondes, a man who stole a duvet cover on a freezing night and a British man who accidentally wandered into the England team’s dressing room. These are among the defendants in South Africa’s special network of World Cup courts – a unique system of rapid-fire justice that is generating controversy and headlines around the world. Some of the trials are as short as 20 minutes. The courts run for 15 hours a day, in two shifts, with some 260 prosecutors assigned to the 56 courts."

"... In another case, a Nigerian man was sentenced to three years in prison for attempted ticket-scalping after he was found in possession of 30 tickets. A vagrant in Cape Town was sentenced to a year in prison for stealing a Korean tourist’s backpack. Another man was jailed for 20 months for stealing a duvet cover from a minibus hired by a World Cup tourist. And two Zimbabweans were sentenced to 15 years for robbing a group of Portuguese and Spanish journalists – just three days after the robbery took place."

In an completely ridiculous case, the 'special' World Cup courts have may jail a British fan who stumbled into the dressing room of the England soccer team while he was searching for a toilet, and created headlines across the world.

Pavlos Joseph, a Manchester United fan, who lives in Norwood, South London, claims he had become lost in Cape Town's Green Point stadium after Friday's 0-0 draw with Algeria.

"The next thing I knew, there was David Beckham standing in front of me. I froze and looked round. I saw Joe Cole walk naked out of the shower a few feet away from me. He glanced at me and then did a massive double take. Then David looked at me. His face seemed to drop. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The room was dead silent. The players were sitting on benches with towels round their waists just looking at me. It was surreal, Joseph told the UK Daily Mail. Beckham, who is with England as a coach, asked who he was and the interloper replied: 'I'm Pavlos... and I actually need the toilet.'

He then went on to berate Beckham stating that the team’s performance was a disgrace before a FIFA official hauled him off. Beckham laughed off the incident, but the fan was later charged with trespassing, his passport seized, and he is barred from any further World Cup matches. His family says he is being made a scapegoat for lax security at the stadium.