Top German Court: U.S. Drone Terror Not Contrary To International Law

On Tuesday last week, two Yemenis failed in their lawsuit against the German Federal Republic before Germany’s highest court. The verdict is a testimony of imperialist arrogance.

By Leon Wystrychowski, Peoples Dispatch

On August 28, 2012, a wedding took place in Khashamir, a village in eastern Yemen. Some of the guests stayed with their relatives for the next day. Suddenly, literally out of the blue, four missiles hit the village, fired by a US drone. Among the dead were Salim and Walid Abdullah bin Ali Jaber. Salim was a preacher in a mosque who had publicly spoken out against Al-Qaeda. He was killed when he met with members of the organization to explain his criticism.

Salim and Walid were neither the first nor the last civilian victims of US drone terror. As part of the “War on Terror”, the US carried out such air strikes in various countries in West Asia and Africa – without a mandate, without a declaration of war, or even permission from the respective states. In doing so, the US constantly violates the national sovereignty of these countries, permanently breaking international law and regularly committing war crimes. And they have murdered thousands of Yemenis, Pakistanis, Afghans, Somalis, Libyans, Syrians, Iraqis, and Iranians since 2001.

Germany as a military hub

During the Korean and Vietnam wars, the US airbase “Ramstein” in West Germany was important for the coordination and supply of US troops. And to this day, the facility is central to the US wars in Asia and Africa. The transmission of data has become immensely more important in the age of combat drones: The pilots may be based in the Nevada desert, but the orders are sent via Ramstein. Added to this is the AFRICOM headquarters, which is also located in Germany because no African country was prepared to host it.

Faisal bin Ali Jaber, Ahmed Saeed Abdallah bin Ali Jaber and Khaled Mohmed Naser bin Ali Jaber, three of Salim’s and Walid’s relatives, brought the systematic involvement of the German Federal Republic in the US drone war to court in Germany. They received support from the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR). The case was dismissed at first instance in 2015, but was partially upheld in 2019. At the time, the court saw “weighty indications” of violations of international law by the USA and ordered the German government to take measures to monitor the actions of the US Army in Ramstein. In the third instance, however, the case was again dismissed.

Good terror, bad terror

The last resort in the German legal system is the Constitutional Court. Two of the relatives filed a constitutional complaint – and lost. The highest German court did not see any “systematic violations of international law” as a result of the permanent terror that Washington has been spreading with its mass-murdering aircraft for the past quarter of a century.

The plaintiffs commented bitterly on the decision: “This is a dangerous and disturbing ruling that suggests countries that provide assistance to the US assassination program bear no responsibility when civilians are killed. Our hearts are broken, and our faith in international law is shaken. Where else can we turn for justice?” ECCHR stated: “At a time when the adherence of state action to international law is increasingly being called into question, the court has failed to send a strong signal.” The only positive thing, the ECCHR notes, is that the German court has at least granted the possibility of bringing war crimes committed abroad by Germany’s allies before the highest German court.

However, this success is double-edged: German law has long presumed to punish actual or alleged war crimes committed abroad. This mechanism has already been used to bring Syrians before German courts for alleged crimes in Syria and to prosecute activists for “condoning” alleged war crimes committed by Russia or the Palestinian resistance. The fact that the courts condemn in some cases and reject in others is evidence of the political nature of the German justice system. The message is clear and in the tradition of imperialist arrogance. It reads: Yes, German courts judge crimes abroad – but, seemingly, only those that serve German state interests.

Leon Wystrychowski is a former member of the Palästina Solidarität Duisburg (Palestine Solidarity Duisburg, PSDU).