Duterte is wanted by the international criminal court over his so-called ‘war on drugs’, which rights groups say left 30,000 people dead
The former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has been taken into custody after the international criminal court issued a warrant for his arrest for his so-called “war on drugs”. The former leader, who will turn 80 this month, is accused by ICC prosecutors of crimes against humanity over his anti-drugs crackdowns, in which as many as 30,000 people were killed. Most of the victims were men in poor, urban areas, who were gunned down in the streets.
The president’s office said Duterte was arrested on Tuesday morning at Manila airport after flying back from Hong Kong. “Early in the morning, Interpol Manila received the official copy of the warrant of the arrest from the ICC,” the presidential palace said in a statement. “As of now, he is under the custody of authorities.”
Duterte became president in 2016 after promising a merciless, bloody crackdown that would rid the country of drugs. On the campaign trail he once said that there would be so many bodies dumped in Manila Bay that fish would grow fat from feeding on them. After taking office, he publicly stated that he would kill suspected drug dealers and urged the public to kill addicts….
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Book review: Alfred McCoy on the Politics of Heroin & CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade
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