Former Philippines President Duterte Dragged To Hague By ICC

Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has been forcibly dragged onto a plane headed for The Hague, his daughter said on Tuesday, hours after his dramatic arrest on an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant over a brutal, years-long anti-drugs crackdown that left thousands of his citizens dead.

Duterte was placed on a flight late on Tuesday, the current government said. “They are taking him out on a plane by force without considering his health conditions,” the former authoritarian’s youngest daughter Veronica Duterte wrote on Instagram.

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.

Duterte’s plane stopped in Dubai for several hours before beginning the final leg of the journey to the Netherlands on Wednesday, according to flight tracking websites.

The plane was originally scheduled to land in the Netherlands around 7:00 a.m. local time, but tracking service Flightradar 24 shows it should now arrive around 5:00 p.m. local time.

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.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) 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.

CNN/Ejiofor Ezeifeoma