"What is the crime that I committed?': Philippines' ex-president Duterte arrested on ICC warrant

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested and taken into custody on Tuesday in Manila on an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for the "war on drugs" that defined his term in office and which killed thousands of Filipinos.

Duterte was served an Interpol arrest warrant on his arrival from Hong Kong at Manila's main airport and was in custody, the office of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said in a statement on Tuesday.

Human rights groups claim that Philippine police and vigilantes under Duterte’s direction murdered unarmed drug suspects on a massive scale, allegations that authorities have denied. The ICC said it would pursue an investigation of suspected crimes against humanity.

The arrest follows years of Duterte taunting the ICC since he unilaterally withdrew the Philippines from the court's founding treaty in 2019.