Plane carrying Philippine ex-President Duterte to ICC delayed, flight tracker shows

ROTTERDAM (Reuters) – The plane carrying Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court in The Hague was delayed, tracking service Flightradar 24 showed on Wednesday, after the former Philippines leader was arrested in Manila.

The plane had originally been set to land at Rotterdam airport around 0600 GMT but tracking service Flightradar 24 showed it being in Dubai and having a later arrival time in the Netherlands, with an unknown status.

Duterte, a maverick ex-mayor and former prosecutor who led the Philippines from 2016 to 2022, was arrested early on Tuesday, marking the biggest step yet in the ICC’s probe into alleged crimes against humanity during an anti-drugs crackdown that killed thousands and drew condemnation around the world.

His daughter Sara Duterte, the country’s vice president, boarded a morning flight to Amsterdam, her office said in a statement, but it did not what she intended to do there or how long she plans to stay in the Netherlands.

Duterte was receiving medical attention during the layover in Dubai, broadcaster ABS-CBN News said. ABS-CBN showed on its website pictures of what it said were police doctors checking on Duterte as he lay on an airplane bed.

The ICC’s press office declined to comment. One of Duterte’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Officials in Dubai also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Duterte, 79, could become the first Asian former head of state to go on trial at the ICC.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr told a press conference on Tuesday that the plane carrying Duterte was en route to The Hague, saying that would allow the former president “to face charges of crimes against humanity in relation to his bloody war on drugs.”

The war on drugs was the signature campaign platform that swept the mercurial Duterte to power in 2016. During his six years in office, 6,200 suspects were killed during anti-drug operations, by police count.

But activists say the real toll was far greater, with many thousands more slumland drug users gunned down in mysterious circumstances, some of whom were on community “watch lists” after they signed up for treatment.

Silvestre Bello, a former labour minister and one of the former president’s lawyers, said a legal team will meet to assess options and seek clarity on where Duterte will be taken and whether they would be granted access to him.

Duterte’s youngest daughter, Veronica, plans to file a habeas corpus request with the Philippine Supreme Court to compel the government to bring him back, Salvador Panelo, his former chief legal counsel, said.

(Reporting by Bart Meijer, Anthony Deutsch, Karen Lema; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)