FORMER Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested today on a warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) accusing him of crimes against humanity, the Philippines government said today.

Mr Duterte was detained at Manila’s international airport after arriving from Hong Kong, President Ferdinand Marcos’s office said.

The ICC has been investigating mass killings during the former president’s deadly crackdown against illegal drugs.

“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 said. 

“He’s now in the custody of authorities.”

The surprise arrest sparked a commotion at the airport, where lawyers and aides of Mr Duterte loudly protested that they were prevented from coming close to him after he was taken into police custody. 

“This is a violation of his constitutional rights,” Senator Bong Go, a close ally of Mr Duterte, told reporters.

The warrant of arrest sent by the ICC to Philippine officials 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.”

Mr Duterte’s arrest was necessary “to ensure his appearance before the court,” according to the March 7 warrant, saying that the former president was expected to ignore a court summons.

It said that although Mr Duterte was no longer president, he “appears to continue to wield considerable power.”

“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.”

There was no immediate comment on Mr Duterte’s arrest from the ICC.

The ICC began investigating drug killings under Mr Duterte from November 1 2011, when he was still mayor of the southern city of Davao, to March 16 2019, as possible crimes against humanity.