Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested Tuesday on a warrant from the International Criminal Court accusing him of crimes against humanity over deadly anti-drug crackdowns he oversaw while in office, the Philippine government said, reports the Associated Press. Duterte was taken into custody at the Manila international airport after arriving from Hong Kong with his family, becoming the first former Asian leader to be arrested by the global court. The surprise arrest caused a commotion at the airport, where lawyers and aides of Duterte loudly protested that they, along with a doctor and lawyers, were prevented from coming close to him after he was taken into police custody. “This is a violation of his constitutional right,” Sen. Bong Go, a close Duterte ally, told reporters. The ICC has been investigating mass killings in crackdowns overseen by Duterte when he served as mayor of the southern Philippine city of Davao and later as president. Estimates of the death toll of the crackdown under Duterte as president vary, from the more than 6,000 that the national police have reported up to 30,000 claimed by human rights groups.
“Upon his arrival, the prosecutor general served the ICC notification for an arrest warrant to the former president for crime against humanity,” the government said. “He’s now in the custody of authorities.” The warrant of arrest sent by the ICC to Philippine officials, a copy of which was seen by The Associated Press, said “there are reasonable grounds to believe that” the attack on victims “was both widespread and systematic: the attack took place over a period of several years and thousands people appear to have been killed.” Duterte’s arrest was necessary “to ensure his appearance before the court,” according to the March 7 warrant, adding that the former president was expected to ignore court summons. Although Duterte is no longer president, he “appears to continue to wield considerable power,” it said. “Mindful of the resultant risk of interference with the investigations and the security of witnesses and victims, the chamber is satisfied that the arrest of Mr. Duterte is necessary.”
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