Country’s Former President Arrested On ICC Warrant For Alleged Crimes Against Humanity

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested on Tuesday and transported to the Netherlands to face charges alleging crimes against humanity.

The International Criminal Court ordered his arrest, accusing the former president of crimes related to an anti-drug crackdown during his time in office.

According to the Associated Press, Duterte was arrested at the Manila International Airport Tuesday morning when he arrived with his family from Hong Kong.

“They are taking him out on a plane by force without considering his health conditions,” his youngest daughter wrote on Instagram, according to CNN.

BREAKING NEWS: The Philippine National Police arrests former president Rodrigo Duterte for his alleged crimes against humanity.

Duterte had been the subject of International Criminal Court investigations for the thousands of people killed in his brutal war on drugs waged when he… pic.twitter.com/BfyFjLcXBw

— Rappler (@rapplerdotcom) March 11, 2025

From the Associated Press:

Walking slowly with a cane, the 79-year-old former president turned briefly to a small group of aides and supporters, who wept and bid him goodbye, before an escort helped him into the plane.

His daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, said she sought entry to the airbase where her father was held but was refused. She criticized the Marcos administration for surrendering her father to a foreign court which currently has no jurisdiction to the Philippines.

Marcos said Duterte’s arrest was “proper and correct” and not an act of political persecution, since the Philippines is a member of Interpol.

Among the most feared leaders in Asia while in power, Duterte became the first ex-leader from the region to be arrested by the global court.

Clad in a dark jacket, an irate Duterte protested his arrest after arrival in Manila and asked authorities the legal basis of his detention. His lawyers immediately asked the Supreme Court to block any attempt to transport him out of the Philippines.

New: Ex-Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has been arrested on an ICC warrant for committing crimes against humanity pic.twitter.com/zpo9GQ3Bd3

— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) March 11, 2025

Per CNN:

In a separate statement to The Philippine Star, Sara Duterte – Duterte’s elder daughter, who is also the country’s vice president – said her father was being taken to The Hague. “As I write this, he is being forcibly taken to The Hague tonight. This is not justice – this is oppression and persecution,” she said, according to the outlet.

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Duterte’s plane stopped in Dubai for several hours before arriving in Rotterdam just before 5:00 p.m. local time (12:00 p.m. ET) on Wednesday according to FlightRadar24.

Duterte received medical attention during the layover in Dubai, Reuters reported.

After her father’s plane took off, Sara Duterte told a reporter she would head to the Netherlands on Wednesday.

In a Wednesday statement, the ICC said the former president was “surrendered” to its custody, and a hearing would be scheduled in “due course.” Earlier in the day, it told CNN that Duterte would not be in court at The Hague on Wednesday and that it is unclear when he will make his first court appearance.

On another note, the former president oversaw an authoritarian response during COVID-19, threatening to arrest unvaccinated individuals.

WATCH:

Philippines president Duterte: ‘Get vaccinated or I will have you jailed’ pic.twitter.com/AtyONNoMM4

— Camus (@newstart_2024) June 22, 2021

Reuters reported in 2021:

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, frustrated by the slow pace of COVID-19 vaccinations in his country, threatened people who refuse to get inoculated with jail or an injection of Ivermectin, an anti-parasite drug widely used to treat animals.

Ivermectin has been touted as an alternative treatment for COVID-19 but U.S. and European regulators and the World Health Organization (WHO) have recommended against it.

“You choose, vaccine or I will have you jailed,” Duterte said in a televised address late on Monday, following reports of low turnout at several vaccination sites in the capital Manila.

“But for as long as you are here and you are a human being, and can carry the virus, get vaccinated.

“Otherwise, I will order all the village captains to have a tally of the people who refuse to be vaccinated. Because if not, I will have Ivermectin meant for pigs injected into you.”

Duterte is famous for his bellicose rhetoric and his remarks on Monday contradicted those of his health officials, who have said getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is voluntary.