STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Authorities in the Philippines arrested former President Rodrigo Duterte today. The International Criminal Court has accused Duterte of crimes against humanity for orchestrating killings while he was president, killings that he characterized as a war on drugs. The antidrug campaign began in 2016 and continues to this day, even after Duterte left office in 2022. And critics say it has resulted in tens of thousands of extrajudicial killings. Michael Sullivan reports.
MICHAEL SULLIVAN, BYLINE: Rumors of an arrest warrant issued by Interpol had been circulating over the weekend as Duterte was in Hong Kong addressing overseas Filipino workers. Duterte dismissed the rumors in his usual foul-mouthed, contemptuous fashion and dared law enforcement to go ahead. But when it actually happened this morning on his return to Manila, many were shocked.
CARLOS CONDE: With all the things that are happening in the world, and with all of the stuff that's on the table of the ICC, people were really not sure whether this is something that would come down, but it did.
SULLIVAN: Carlos Conde is the Manila-based researcher for Human Rights Watch.
CONDE: And a lot of Filipinos, particularly the families of victims, are, as you can imagine, ecstatic over this because, you know, at least the first step has been taken.
SULLIVAN: In the beginning, Duterte's drug war was wildly popular. It was even one of the central planks of his presidential election campaign. But as the death toll mounted, so did people's unease. But many, Conde says, were too frightened to say anything.
CONDE: During Mr. Duterte's time, they were so afraid. You know, there was a culture of fear, the reign of fear, of terror. That is no longer the case. So you see now more and more people being vocal about their position on the violence before and being more vocal about wanting to see the Dutertes answer for all the crimes that they did during their time.
SULLIVAN: According to a copy of the warrant seen by The Associated Press, there are reasonable grounds to believe that attacks on victims were both widespread and systematic, and that thousands appear to have been killed in these extrajudicial killings. Human rights groups said the number could be in the tens of thousands. Fewer than a dozen police officers have been convicted in connection with the deaths, but activists are hoping Duterte's arrest might change that.
For NPR News, I'm Michael Sullivan in Chiang Rai, Thailand. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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