German court scraps law on downing hijacked planes - Yahoo! News

KARLSRUHE, Germany (Reuters) - A law allowing the German air force to shoot down errant planes to prevent a suicide attack is against the constitution and must be scrapped, the country's highest court ruled on Wednesday. [snip]

But it was challenged in the Constitutional Court by critics who argued the state had no right to "sacrifice" apparently doomed passengers to try to save lives on the ground.

The court ruled that while the constitution allowed the federal government to use the army in dealing with natural disasters and serious accidents, it did not have the right to order the use of military weapons.

The law was also incompatible with human dignity and the basic right to life as the people in the hijacked aircraft would be used to save others and reduced to mere objects, it said.



German court scraps law on downing hijacked planes - Yahoo! News