Philippine ex-President Rodrigo Duterte, who left a savage legacy from his deadly anti-drugs crackdown, was arrested on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity for the thousands killed in a war he waged against drugs in a political career spanning decades. His detention capped an international investigation into the killings, which unfolded for more than a dozen years. Duterte again came under the spotlight during a weekend trip to Hong Kong when the trip sparked speculation that he may have gone into exile to evade arrest. He had appeared as the main speaker on Sunday at a gathering of thousands of cheering and flag-waving Filipino expatriates, who jammed Southorn Stadium in downtown Wan Chai district. Now 79 and in poor health, Duterte campaigned for his political party’s senatorial candidates ahead of the May 12 mid-term elections in the Philippines. He said he was aware the International Criminal Court had issued a warrant for his arrest. He again tried to justify the brutal crackdown as the crowd cheered him on. Police arrested him as he got off the plane at Manila International Airport based on an ICC warrant. Here’s more about Duterte, his ICC case and what lies ahead for one of Asia’s most unorthodox leaders in his time: Why was Duterte popular at home but condemned internationally? Duterte, a former prosecutor, congressman and longtime mayor of the southern Philippine city of Davao, built a political name with his expletive-laced outbursts against the elites, the dominant Roman Catholic church and the West. He was also seen as pro-poor and a populist, but he is perhaps best remembered for his brutal approach to criminality, particularly illegal drugs. Under his police-enforced crackdown in Davao at the start of the millennium, an estimated 1,000 mostly poor suspects were gunned down extrajudicially. One police officer involved in the Davao killings who later distanced himself from Duterte told The Associated Press that up to 10,000 suspects were killed by his and other police and civilian hit squads. The death toll in the crackdown was alarmingly high for years, gaining Duterte nicknames like “the Punisher” and “Duterte Harry,” after the Western movie police character with little regard for the law. Human rights activists said people were afraid to testify against Duterte in court. In 2016, Duterte won the presidency on an audacious but failed promise to eradicate illegal drugs and corruption within three to six months, in a country long weary of crime and corruption scandals. “All of you who are into drugs, you sons of bitches, I will really kill you,” Duterte told a huge crowd in a 2016 campaign stop in Manila. “I have no patience, I have no middle ground. Either you kill me or I will kill you idiots.” The United States, the European Union and other Western governments raised the alarm over the anti-drugs campaign, prompting Duterte in 2016 to tell then-President Barack Obama “you can go to hell” as he threatened to “break up with America.” What case does Duterte face before the ICC? The ICC launched an investigation into drug killings under Duterte from Nov. 1, 2011, when he was still mayor of Davao, to March 16, 2019, as possible crimes against humanity. Duterte withdrew the Philippines in 2019 from the Rome Statute, the court’s founding treaty, in a move human rights activists […]