Rodrigo Duterte, the former president of the Philippines, was on Tuesday arrested in Manila on an International Criminal Court warrant over allegations of crimes against humanity during the war on drugs under his tenure as leader of the Asian country.

According to the New York Times, Mr Duterte, who left office in 2022, was arrested and taken into custody after arriving at Manila’s main airport on Tuesday following his return from a trip to Hong Kong, according to the Philippines government.

A three-judge panel had issued the warrant for Mr Duterte’s arrest after they ruled that the prosecutor presented sufficient evidence that the politician ordered “both widespread and systematic” killings when he was mayor of the city of Davao and later president.

Human rights groups said tens of thousands of Filipinos were summarily executed during Mr Duterte’s war on drugs, with the panel also agreeing it believed that “Mr Duterte is individually responsible for the crime against humanity of murder.”

Meanwhile, Mr Duterte’s lawyer, Salvador Panelo, said his client’s arrest was unlawful, partly because the Philippines withdrew from the court while the former president was in office.

It was unclear whether the Philippines government would force Mr Duterte to surrender to The Hague-based court.