There was no other way to describe it but malicious. A high government official declaring a lie as a statement of fact must be subject to disinformation scrutiny. Sara Duterte knows that. But she said it anyway right in front of the International Criminal Court headquarters in Den Haag, the Netherlands. Ergo, the malice is scandalous.
Worse, the lie was easily verifiable at a click on the ICC website. The ICC Cases Portal currently lists the status of 34 cases in their pretrial or trial stages. It also lists how many are “In ICC custody,” meaning those in detention at the Scheveningen detention facility in Den Haag.
Yet, Sara Duterte – vice president of the Philippines, former cabinet official, former local government executive, lawyer, and current globetrotter who spends her own money – defied the truth on what appeared to be a makeshift stage right on the front driveway of the ICC. “The ICC has no other case except for the case of Rodrigo Roa Duterte.” That lie was astounding.
What are the facts from the ICC Cases Portal? Many.
One, there are 7 prisoners presently in ICC custody. They are Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman of the Central African Republic (31 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity), Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud of Mali (convicted, war crimes and crimes against humanity), Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines (3 counts of crimes against humanity), Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri of Libya (arrested in Germany, crimes against humanity and war crimes including murder, torture, rape and sexual violence), Mahamat Said Abdelkani of Central African Republic (crimes against humanity and war crimes), Alfred Yekatom and Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona both of the Central African Republic (arrested in France, war crimes and crimes against humanity). As you can see, Rodrigo Duterte is in good company with 6 other co-detainees.
Take note as well that at least three prisoners were arrested not in their home countries but on foreign soil. This must serve as a warning to Bato dela Rosa that he has nowhere to hide.
Two, of the 34 cases in the ICC Portal, several are listed as “At Large.” That means that their cases have yet to commence. Let us get to know their names, for the benefit of Sara Duterte’s supporters:
Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir the former president of Sudan (for mass killings, rape and pillage against civilians), Walter Osapiri Barasa of Kenya, Philip Kipkoech Bett of Kenya, Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi of Libya, Iyad Ag Ghali of Mali, Ahmad Harun of Sudan, Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein the politician and former governor of Khartoum State, Sudan, and Joseph Kony the warlord of Uganda.
The At Large list does not include yet those issued arrest warrants such as Vladimir Putin and five other Russians, and Benjamin Netanyahu.
Sara’s lie will now make the rounds of its troll supporters where it will be exponentially repeated and then proclaimed as gospel truth, that Rodrigo Duterte is the only active case in the ICC.
In social media, the unthinking mass will have the confidence to say it, just as when they parrot the Duterte lines “Guilt is personal,” “Your concern is human rights, mine is human lives,” “I don’t care if I go to hell as long as the people I serve will live in Paradise.”
Except that with Sara’s jet settings and Baste’s partying in Ibiza, Spain, we are not in Paradise yet.
The views in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of VERA Files.
