Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte threatens to kill human rights activists if they continue to interfer in his war on drugs

Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte has issued a warning to human rights campaigners criticizing his bloody war on illegal drugs, which has claimed the lives of about 5000 people, in the last six months as part of his anti-drug campaign, threatening to kill them if they continue to interfer in his war on drugs. activists   

Duterte issued the warning during a speech at the presidential palace on Monday. He said those accusing him of ordering the executions of drug users should be blamed if the country’s drug problem worsened.

Duterte likened the country's drug problem to "stage 2 cancer.

"The human rights (defenders) said I ordered the killings. I told them ‘Okay, I’ll stop,’ Duterte said

''We'll let them (drug users) multiply so that when it's harvest time, more people will die."

"I will include you among them because you let them multiply, he added.

He went further to say;

"If the human rights (community) could not understand what I'm saying, if you're that stupid, then I cannot do anything for you."

Duterte also used the opportunity to lash out at the US and the European Union for raising human rights concerns about his alleged drug killings in the country.

"When was it a crime to say 'I will kill you' in protecting my country? When did saying 'if you harm my country and my children, I will kill you' become a crime?' My God!" Duterte said.

Duterte went on to show the audience a validated narco list containing the names of about 5,000 government officials allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade, cautioning them that he was not trying to scare them with the list. 

He said he had shown the list to former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, adding that village officials were the ones who benefit the most from the illegal drug deal.

Duterte was voted president in May after pledging to kill thousands of drug dealers and since assuming office, he has called on police and civilians to kill any drug users they see.