U.S. Judge Allows Noriega To Be Extradited to France

MIAMI, Aug. 28 -- Wearing a crisp military uniform, former Panamanian dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega appeared before a federal magistrate Tuesday, asking that he be allowed to return next month to the country he ruled and menaced in the 1980s.

Noriega, 73, his hair dyed black and his posture militarily upright in court hearings, is nearing the end of his U.S. prison sentence for drug trafficking.

But U.S. Magistrate Judge William C. Turnoff rejected defense attorneys' pleas and, after a judge's ruling Friday, approved Noriega's extradition to France. There he faces charges of money laundering and buying luxurious Paris apartments with drug money.

Noriega "was totally disappointed," said his attorney Frank Rubino. "We just didn't think politics would trump the judiciary."

While Noriega faces charges in both France and Panama, justice in his native country might have been more lenient.

The France case could land Noriega in prison for another 10 years. In Panama, the judiciary is still reputedly weakened by corruption, and a recent law mandates that elderly prisoners serve their time under house arrest.

In court, Rubino had argued that under the Geneva Conventions, Noriega, who had been deemed a prisoner of war, was entitled to be repatriated when he finishes his 30-year sentence, which has been shortened for good behavior.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Cronin said the French have offered confidential assurances that Noriega would have prisoner-of-war status, which guarantees him certain rights and preferential treatment while in custody.

"The United States is not running away from its obligations under the Geneva Conventions in this case," Cronin said.

The government of Panamanian President Martin Torrijos issued a statement saying that if Noriega is transferred to France, it will send a request to the French government for his extradition to Panama.

Some in Panama reacted angrily to the decision.

Ex-president Guillermo Endara, who took office after the United States invaded Panama in December 1989 and captured Noriega, reacted with anger.

"We have been openly humiliated, treated like a fly in the path of two great powers, the United States and France," he told the Associated Press. "I feel humiliated for one because Panama has not been treated equally under international law."

Panamanian public opinion appeared to have been split on Noriega's return. According to a poll of 1,218 people conducted by Dichter & Neira Latin Research Network for La Prensa newspaper, 47 percent said they want him imprisoned in Panama and 44 percent said they want him sent to a third country. The poll, which had a margin of error of three percentage points, was conducted in July before the United States announced plans to extradite him to France.

Rubino contends that the governments of France, the United States and Panama have conspired to make sure that Noriega does not return to his home country.

"They're twisting and torquing every law that they can to keep him in jail so he won't get back to Panama," Rubino said. "If Panama wanted him, they could have had him. He's a Panamanian citizen, he was seized from Panama and the Panamanian charges are much more serious."

In France, Noriega was convicted in 1999 of "drug trafficking and money laundering linked to drug trafficking" and was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison, said a foreign ministry spokesman, who under ministry rules would not be quoted by name.

Correspondent John Ward Anderson in Paris contributed to this report.