Philippine police have arrested former president Rodrigo Duterte after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant accusing him of crimes against humanity over his deadly “war on drugs”.
The 79-year-old was taken into police custody shortly after his arrival at Manila airport from Hong Kong on Tuesday.
Latest reports from local media say he is on board a private jet on the airport tarmac. Earlier, his daughter said he was being “forcibly” sent to the Hague in the Netherlands, where the ICC sits.
A press conference from the presidential palace is expected soon.
Duterte has offered no apologies for his brutal anti-drugs crackdown, which saw thousands of people killed when he was president of the South East Asian nation from 2016 to 2022, and mayor of Davao city before that.
Upon his arrest on Tuesday, he questioned the basis for the warrant, asking: “What crime [have] I committed?” in a video posted online by his daughter Veronica Duterte.
“If I committed a sin, prosecute me in Philippine courts, with Filipino judges, and I will allow myself to be jailed in my own nation,” he said in a later video.
In response to his arrest, a petition was launched on his behalf in the Supreme Court – urging them not to comply with the request.
In it, Duterte urged the court to refrain from “enforcing or assisting in the enforcement of any ICC-issued warrants… and to suspend all forms of cooperation with the ICC while the case is pending”.
Credit: bbc.com
The post Philippines ex-President arrested on ICC warrant over drug killings appeared first on The Ghanaian Chronicle.
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