MANILA (Reuters) – A group of lawyers yesterday filed an injunction with the Supreme Court to try to stop President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs, calling it as an illegal campaign that lets police kill and circumvent legal procedures. The government’s directive for the crackdown permits police to “negate” and “neutralise” targets, effectively granting them a licence to kill suspected users and dealers, without gathering evidence or building a case, the lawyers said. A practice of compiling lists of “drug personalities” and encouraging citizens to anonymously provide names was tantamount to drawing a hit list, the petition said. It called for judicial intervention in thousands of cases where Filipinos were killed by police.

• Tags: Duterte, Philippines, Supreme Court, war on drugs