Former Philippines President Duterte forced onto plane to The Hague after ICC arrest, his daughter says

Duterte was placed on a flight late on Tuesday, his daughter and local outlet The Philippine Star reported. “They are taking him out on a plane by force without considering his health conditions,” Veronica Duterte wrote on Instagram. Reuters also reported that Duterte had boarded a plane.

In a separate statement to the Philippine Star, Sara 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,” the vice president said, according to the outlet.

 

Duterte, 79, was taken into custody at the main airport in the capital Manila after returning to the Philippines from Hong Kong on Tuesday, charged with crimes against humanity. CNN has reached out to Interpol and the ICC for comment.

The former leader oversaw a ferocious crackdown on drug pushers in the Southeast Asian country, targeting with relentless and bloody zeal a criminal trade that had sparked widespread anger among his supporters. The crackdown killed more than 6,000 people based on police data, though independent monitors believe the number of extrajudicial killings could be much higher.

The ICC, which sits in the Dutch city of The Hague, had previously said it was investigating Duterte, but his arrest nonetheless caught the country off guard. It immediately mobilized his significant throng of supporters, some of whom angrily confronted police outside the airbase where he was held for several hours.

 

Correction: This story has been corrected to clarify that the Instagram post was uploaded by Duterte's daughter Veronica.

CNN’s Kathleen Magramo contributed reporting