U.S. judge rules Noriega can be extradited for trial in France

A U.S. federal judge in Miamiruled against Manuel Noriega for a second time Friday, concluding that the former Panamanian dictator could be extradited to France to face trial on money laundering charges.

Noriega's attorney immediately filed notice that he would appeal.

Noriega's U.S. drug racketeering sentence ends Sunday, but with the appeal, it remained unclear just when he would leave the country and where he would be sent.

Noriega's attorney says he should be returned to Panama because of his status as a prisoner of war. The U.S. government says French officials have given assurances that they will honour the POW status if he is extradited there to face charges. On Friday, senior U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler sided with the government and lifted a stay of his earlier order.

Moments later, Noriega attorney Frank Rubino filed a one-paragraph notice that he would ask the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review the orders clearing the way for the extradition.

U.S. officials have said Noriega will remain in a minimum-security prison near Miami until his extradition orders are finalized.

Tom Casey, deputy State Department spokesman, said Friday that he expected "pretty quick action" to approve Noriega's extradition once the legal proceedings end.

"I would think our action would be fairly quick, and I would see no reason for us to change our basic assessment of this, which is to support the French request," Casey told reporters in Washington.

Noriega, 73, was convicted in 1992 of U.S. drug charges in a trial before Hoeveler, who declared him a POW based on his capture after a 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama. In France, Noriega is charged with laundering more than $3 million in drug proceeds through French banks and using some of the money to buy luxury apartments in Paris.

Hoeveler previously rejected claims by Noriega's lawyers that his POW status required his repatriation to Panama, where he also was convicted in absentia of embezzlement, corruption and murdering political opponents. Noriega's lawyers say he wants to return home to fight those charges.