GERMANY: COURT SAYS HIJACKED PLANES CANNOT BE SHOT DOWN 

Karlsruhe, 15 Feb. (AKI) - Germany's highest court has scrapped a controversial law that gave the German military the right to shoot down any plane it believed may have been highjacked and could be flown into a building. The law was a infringement of the right to life and human dignity, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled. "The protection of the right to human dignity is strict and infringement is not permissible," German Deutsche-Welle radio quoted court president Hans-Juergen Papier as saying in his ruling on Wednesday. 

A group of former political and civil rights activists challenged the the law, which entered into force in January last year. The German pilots union also opposed the law, saying it could lead to tragic mistakes. Germany's president, Horst Koehler, signed the air safety bill into law in 2005, but urged its review by the Federal Constitutional Court, amid a heated debate over whether Germany's constitution bars the government from killing citizens, even to save others' lives. The law was drafted in the aftermath of the 11 September, 2001 attacks on the United States. The German air force intercepts about a dozen unidentified aircraft each year in German airspace, according to Germany's defense ministry.