Far-left German MPs accuse Merkel over Soleimani killing

Eight MPs from Germany's radical-left Left party said Thursday they had filed a criminal complaint against Chancellor Angela Merkel and her ministers, accusing them of complicity in the US killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.

Their complaint relates to the US Air Force's massive Ramstein base in western Germany, believed to host a satellite relay station used to control American drones in the skies over Africa and the Middle East.

"The control signals for the drone attack (that killed Soleimani) can only have been transmitted via a satellite relay station on German territory, the US airbase in Ramstein," Left party MP Alexander Neu said in a statement.

January's drone strike in Iraq against Soleimani, a key Iranian general, brought Washington and Tehran to the brink of war for the second time in a year. A copy of the criminal complaint Neu posted to his website targets Chancellor Angela Merkel, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and "other members of the federal government".

The Left accuses Merkel and her ministers of "abetting through negligence" Soleimani's killing. "We cannot continue to accept that the federal government itself breaks international law by enabling and supporting the illegal US drone war," Neu said.

Last year, a German court ruled that the government must ensure that the US respects international law in operations conducted via Ramstein.

Three Yemenis had turned to the court after losing close relatives in a drone attack in 2012. Judges found there was "clear factual evidence" showing that the US was using Ramstein base in drone missions in Yemen that "at least partially violated international law".