Duterte’s latest threat vs drug suspects calls for urgency of ICC’s initial review – HRW

MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte's fresh threat of summary execution against detained drug suspects should send a message to the International Criminal Court that there is a “dire need” for a preliminary examination into the government's drug war, Human Rights Watch said yesterday.

This should also prompt the United Nations to conduct a separate international inquiry into the killings, the rights group also stressed.

Last week, Duterte told drug suspects to find ways to get arrested and stay in jail if they want to live longer.

“You know if I were you guys in Cebu, stay in jail. You want to live longer? Stay in jail... Do not go out of that facility. It would not be healthy for you,” the chief executive said.

Phelim Kine, HRW Asia Division deputy director, said the targets of the president's threat have “good reason” to be afraid.

“The brutal lesson of the anti-drug campaign that Duterte launched on June 30, 2016 is that people he threatens with summary execution often end up in suspicious police ‘buy-bust' operations, or at the hands of unidentified gunmen,” Kine said.

Duterte's comments, Kine added, “send a clear message to police officers and other security force members that certain kinds of crime not only can be committed with impunity, but might even draw praise from the president.”