Fmr. Philippine president undergoes medical check at Dubai layover en route to Rotterdam
The plane carrying former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague was delayed during a stopover in Dubai so that the 79-year-old man could undergo a medical check. Photos in the possession of Philippine media outlet ABS CBN show a police doctor checking Duterte’s heart rate and the man lying on a bed on the airplane.
Interpol arrested Duterte at an airport in Manilla on Tuesday morning based on an ICC arrest warrant. The man is charged with crimes against humanity for the murder of at least 43 people during a drug crackdown when he was in office.
Human rights groups estimate that, under his regime, the Philippine authorities murdered tens of thousands of alleged drug dealers and users. The victims were mostly poor men, and the murders often happened without clear evidence linking them to drugs, ABS CBN reported.
Duterte departed from Manila to Rotterdam on Tuesday. His plane landed in Dubai for a layover during the early hours of Wednesday morning. According to Flightradar24, it was scheduled to depart again at 2:15 a.m., Dutch time, but was then delayed to 6:10 a.m.
On Wednesday morning, Duterte’s lawyers told Philippine media that they had filed a Supreme Court petition on behalf of Duterte’s youngest daughter, Veronica. The petition states that Duterte had been “kidnapped” and demands his return.
Sara Duterte, another daughter and the current Vice President of the Philippines, is also on her way to the Netherlands. She said that her father was being “forcibly taken to The Hague” and that “this is not justice - this is oppression and persecution.”
Sara Duterte has been vice president under current president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. since 2022, but she is currently facing impeachment, NU.nl reported. She is accused of corruption and plotting to assassinate Marcos, among other things. On social media, she wrote that her father’s arrest was intended to give Marcos’ party a boost for the midterm elections in May.
