( Newsvine ) Germany's defense minister said he might order the shooting down of hijacked airlines to avert a Sept. 11-style attack, drawing widespread criticism Monday after the country's highest court threw out a law permitting such action.
In a weekend magazine interview, Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung argued that, despite the ruling, shooting down a plane would be possible "in cases of common danger or danger to free and democratic basic order."
"If there are no other means, I would give the order to shoot down (a plane) in order to protect our citizens," he said.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's government, a coalition between conservative and liberal parties, has yet to agree new legislation to replace the law that was overturned by the Federal Constitutional Court last year amid debate over whether the state has a right to kill citizens, even to save the lives of others.
Jung, a member of Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats, was criticized by the center-left Social Democrats, who form half of Merkel's government.
"For me, it is a unique case in federal German legal history for a minister to say, 'this verdict doesn't interest me, I will violate it,'" Dieter Wiefelspuetz , a prominent party lawmaker, said on N24 television.
In its ruling, the court said the government had no right to kill innocent civilians. It also found that allowing the military to shoot down civilian airliners would violate a constitutional bar on the military being deployed for domestic security.
Germany's interior minister, another conservative, has proposed an amendment to the constitution that would compare such a hijacking with a military attack.
The head of the main organization representing German soldiers also was critical, arguing that any pilot that carried out a shoot-down order risked "finding himself in the dock."
"I don't see this position as a solution that can be implemented," Bernhard Gertz said.
The coalition partners are also at odds over conservative calls for quick approval of proposals giving police greater powers to snoop on Internet users. The calls have amplified after the Sept. 4 arrest of three alleged Islamic radicals accused of plotting car bomb attacks in Germany.
In neighboring Austria, an Islamic group said Monday that suspects accused in an Internet video threat against Germany and Austria were not representative of the country's Muslim population and warned against panic.
"It is our concern that we don't downplay radical tendencies, but at the same time recognize that panic would be counterproductive," Carla Amina Baghajati , a spokeswoman for the Islamic Religious Authority in Austria, told a news conference.
One of the three suspects - all Austrian citizens of Arab origin in their 20s - has since been released. A fourth suspect was arrested in Canada.