Overview

• On July 15, 2025, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that hosting US satellite relay infrastructure at Ramstein Air Base did not violate international law
• Judges acknowledged a general duty to protect fundamental human rights abroad, but found the plaintiffs had not demonstrated the required connection to German state authority
• Ahmed and Khalid bin Ali Jaber argued that Ramstein’s relay of drone-control signals made Germany complicit in a 2012 strike that killed their relatives in Khashamir, Yemen
• Over more than a decade, lower courts issued conflicting judgments—favoring the plaintiffs in 2019 before a federal court overturned that decision in 2020
• The ruling sets a high threshold for future extraterritorial human rights claims and reinforces Berlin’s wide margin of discretion in evaluating allied military operations