Noriega extradition on money-laundering (fwd) Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2008 14:35:46 -0600 (CST) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2008 12:34:48 -0800 (PST) From: MichaelP To: kboonews@yahoogroups.com Subject: Noriega extradition on money-laundering http://news.lp.findlaw.com/ap/o/1110//01-09-2008/20080109082014_20.html MIAMI (AP) - Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega failed again Wednesday to persuade a federal judge to block France from extraditing him to face money-laundering charges. U.S. District Judge Paul Huck said he agreed with another judge's rulings last year that Noriega's status as a prisoner of war was not an impediment to the French extradition request. Huck also ruled that France had provided sufficient assurances that he would be treated in accord with POW rules under the Geneva Conventions, even if the French do not plan to specifically label Noriega as a POW. "What more could he ask for?" Huck said at a hearing. "He will get the benefits he has enjoyed here, as a prisoner of war here." The ruling clears the way for Noriega's lawyers to appeal his extradition to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. U.S. lawyers say Noriega's extradition will not take place until the legal process is concluded. Noriega, 73, in September completed a U.S. prison sentence for drug racketeering and had hoped to return to Panama. He has been in U.S. custody since early 1990, when he was captured after a U.S. military invasion of Panama designed to drive him from power because of his links to Colombian drug cartels.