Ex-president Rodrigo Duterte arrested in Philippines

Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte was arrested at Manila’s international airport on Tuesday, the government said.

He was arrested after arriving from Hong Kong and police took him into custody on orders of the International Criminal Court in connection with a crime-against-humanity case filed against him. The court has been investigating the mass killings that happened during Duterte’s deadly crackdown against illegal drugs, President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s office said in a statement.

“Upon his arrival, the prosecutor general served the ICC notification for an arrest warrant to the former president for the crime of crime against humanity,” the government statement said. “He’s now in the custody of authorities.”

The surprise arrest sparked 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,” Senator Bong Go, a close Duterte ally, told reporters.

The Manila office of Interpol received an official copy of the arrest warrant from the global court, the government said.