THE HAGUE: The International Criminal Court said Wednesday that former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been surrendered to its custody, to face allegations of crimes against humanity stemming from deadly anti-drug crackdowns during his time in office.
The court said in a statement that “as a precautionary measure medical assistance” was made available at the airport for Duterte, in line with standard procedures when a suspect arrives.
Rights groups and families of victims have hailed Duterte’s arrest Tuesday in Manila on an ICC warrant, which was announced by current Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos.
Within days, Duterte will face an initial appearance where the court will confirm his identity, check that he understands the charges against him and set a date for a hearing to assess if prosecutors have sufficient evidence to send him to a full trial.
If his case goes to trial and he is convicted, the 79-year-old Duterte could face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The small jet taxied into a hangar where two buses were waiting. An ambulance also drove close to the hangar, and medics wheeled a gurney inside. There was no immediate sign of Duterte. A police helicopter hovered close to the airport as the plane remained in the hangar, largely obscured from view by the buses and two fuel tanker trucks.
ICC spokesperson Fadi El Abdallah confirmed that Duterte was on the plane, which made a stopover in Dubai during its flight from Manila.
Duterte’s arrest was announced Tuesday by current President Marcos, who said the former leader was arrested when he returned from a trip to Hong Kong and that he was sent aboard a plane to the ICC.
Grieving families are hopeful
“This is a monumental and long-overdue step for justice for thousands of victims and their families,” said Jerrie Abella of Amnesty International.
“It is therefore a hopeful sign for them, as well, in the Philippines and beyond, as it shows that suspected perpetrators of the worst crimes, including government leaders, will face justice wherever they are in the world,” Abella added.
Emily Soriano, the mother of a victim of the crackdowns, said she wanted more officials to face justice.
“Duterte is lucky he has due process, but our children who were killed did not have due process,” she said.
While Duterte’s plane was in the air, grieving relatives gathered in the Philippines to mourn his alleged victims, carrying the urns of their loved ones. “We are happy and we feel relieved,” said 55-year-old Melinda Abion Lafuente, mother of 22-year-old Angelo Lafuente, who she says was tortured and killed in 2016.
Duterte’s supporters, however, criticized his arrest as illegal and sought to have him returned home. Small groups of Duterte supporters and people who backed his arrest demonstrated on Wednesday outside the court before his arrival.
ICC investigation
The ICC opened an inquiry in 2021 into mass killings linked to the so-called war on drugs overseen by Duterte when he served as mayor of the southern Philippine city of Davao and later as president.
Estimates of the death toll during Duterte’s presidential term vary, from the more than 6,000 that the national police have reported and up to 30,000 claimed by human rights groups.
ICC judges who looked at prosecution evidence supporting their request for his arrest found “reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Duterte is individually responsible for the crime against humanity of murder” as an “indirect co-perpetrator for having allegedly overseen the killings when he was mayor of Davao and later president of the Philippines,” according to his warrant.
What happens next?
Duterte could challenge the court’s jurisdiction and the admissibility of the case. While the Philippines is no longer a member of the ICC, the alleged crimes happened before Manila withdrew from the court.
That process will likely take months and if the case progresses to trial it could take years. Duterte will be able to apply for provisional release from the court’s detention center while he waits, though it’s up to judges to decide whether to grant such a request.
Duterte’s legal counsel, Salvador Panelo, told reporters in Manila that the Philippine Supreme Court “can compel the government to bring back the person arrested and detained without probable cause and compel the government bring him before the court and to explain to them why they (government) did what they did.”
Marcos said Tuesday that Duterte’s arrest was “proper and correct” and not an act of political persecution.
Duterte’s daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, criticized the Marcos administration for surrendering her father to a foreign court, which she said currently has no jurisdiction in the Philippines.
She left the Philippines on Wednesday to arrange a meeting in The Hague with her detained father and talk to his lawyers, her office told reporters in Manila.
Philippines no longer an ICC member state
Duterte withdrew the Philippines in 2019 from the ICC, in a move human rights activists say was aimed at escaping accountability.
The Duterte administration moved to suspend the global court’s investigation in late 2021 by arguing that Philippine authorities were already looking into the same allegations, arguing that the ICC — a court of last resort — therefore didn’t have jurisdiction.
Appeals judges at the ICC rejected those arguments and ruled in 2023 that the investigation could resume.
The ICC judges who issued the warrant also said that the alleged crimes fall within the court’s jurisdiction. They said Duterte’s arrest was necessary because of what they called the “risk of interference with the investigations and the security of witnesses and victims.”
ICC takes custody of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte
https://arab.news/5us4y
ICC takes custody of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte
- The court said in a statement that “as a precautionary measure medical assistance” was made available at the airport for Duterte
- If his case goes to trial and he is convicted, the 79-year-old Duterte could face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment
‘Cake not hate’ campaign spreads love amid far-right rhetoric in UK
- Joshua Harris, 12, who is autistic, hands out cakes at mosques
- His father, Dan, tells Arab News they are welcomed by Muslims
LONDON: A 12-year-old boy, who is autistic and non-speaking, is visiting mosques across the country and handing out cakes to promote love and solidarity amid the rise of far-right rhetoric in the UK.
Joshua Harris, or “Joshie-Man” as he is known to his social media fans, has handed out hundreds of his baked treats to congregations in London, Leicester, Luton, Birmingham, and his home city of Peterborough.
The “Cake not hate” campaign came to life after an Islamophobic attack on a mosque in Peterborough in October this year.
The perpetrator, Alexander Hooper, 57, entered Masjid Darassalaam and abused worshipers preparing for the Fajr prayer, and physically assaulted a female police officer who arrived on the scene. Hooper later pleaded guilty to aggravated harassment and assaulting an emergency worker.
Harris’ father, Dan, is the founder of global charity Neurodiversity in Business, and told Arab News that soon after the attack, they both visited the mosque with cakes that Joshie-Man had baked and distributed them to worshipers.
“We gave them to the imam and said we want you to know that this guy (Hooper) doesn’t represent Peterborough nor the great British public,” Harris said.
“So they really warmly received that and then they gave us contact details for the other five or six mosques in Peterborough.”
Harris said he received backlash and threats from far-right individuals after posting videos of Joshie-Man handing out his cakes. And this prompted him to think of how their racism is affecting Muslims.
“If me as a white middle-class guy in a nice part of the world could get this kind of hate from the far right, how bad must it be for a Muslim, a female Muslim, an immigrant Muslim, or a Muslim who doesn’t have English as their first language?
“They must be incredibly intimidated,” he said.
Harris said the Muslims he met told him that they do not go out at night or let their children walk home from school alone for fear of being attacked. They are scared of abuse if they wear traditional dress or speak a foreign language.
“This is not the Britain I want to bequeath to my child. I don’t want him growing up in a Britain which is really divided and I’ve always been proud of Britain being a really tolerant place which is very respectful,” he said.
Harris and his son also visited a mosque in Luton, the town where far-right activist and anti-Islam campaigner Tommy Robinson grew up.
He said it was “really profound” to meet Muslim children who said they had been attacked and shouted at by racists and Islamophobes.
Harris and his son are due to embark on a northern tour later this month to visit 12 mosques in three days. On Christmas Day, they will help cook meals for people who are lonely or need help at a Peterborough mosque, which will open its doors as a part of an outreach event.
Harris said the Muslims he met have “conducted themselves with a lot of humility and kindness. That message has been lost because the far right are now saying that Islam is something to be feared.”
He added that Joshie-Man loves baking and distributing his cakes: “You only have to look at the video to see how he’s jumping with joy when he goes into these places.”
Harris is no stranger to far-right hate and had previously received abuse after speaking out against groups painting St. George’s cross and Union Jack flags on zebra crossings and roundabouts across the UK over the summer after anti-migrant protests.
“I put a post out on social media around how the far right in the UK need to stop painting over zebra crossings.
“Because there are a number of people in our community, the visually impaired, learning disabled, non-speaking autistic or even the colorblind, who find it harder to use zebra crossings if they have the England flags painted on them.
“Joshie certainly did,” Harris said.
“The post was innocuous but the far right went a bit crazy on me and then started targeting me, calling Joshie a retard, talking about eugenics, and saying that the government is wasting money on his education.”
Harris said the comments were “quite hurtful” and he found it “absolutely abhorrent that Reform UK are targeting disabled children.”
“They are some of the most vulnerable in our society. The far right are going after them and they are whipping up a fury in people who think the disabled kids are here for the perks.
“Families that I’ve met and who live in councils controlled by Reform UK are telling me that since they’ve come to power, their interactions have been all around how do we remove your legally enshrined rights.”
Supporting children with neurodiversity is a cause close to Harris’ heart.
After seeing how using a computer with augmentative and alternative communication software transformed the way his son was able to communicate, Harris has led a campaign that raises money to provide these aids to families who cannot afford them.
He has been to several countries, including Mexico, the US, and Brazil, giving away computers to children who are autistic and non-speaking. The next stop for father and son is Dubai, where they will be giving away 100 computers in January.
“We accept the fact that this is a drop in the ocean given how many kids need them, but if we create a bit of noise and get this on the radar that that’s a big win that people can continue with locally,” he said.
“The Middle East is such an important part of our world and over the next 50 to 100 years, it’s going to be absolutely key. Some of the countries, governments, and royal families have actually got a really forward-looking and innovative outlook on this topic.
“So I felt like this is our first chance to put a footprint in the Middle East and God willing, we will achieve some success in new relationships and go to other countries later on.”
