Miami: Former Panama military dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega has been extradited to France after his attorneys lost a three-year-long battle in the US courts.
Noriega, who ruled Panama from 1983-1989, appeared calm and cooperative Monday as federal agents took him from a prison here to the Miami international airport and put him aboard an Air France flight for Paris, where he faces trial for money laundering.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had signed the extradition order, rejecting a request from Noriega's attorneys that he be repatriated to Panama instead. Last month, the US Supreme Court rejected for the second time an appeal from Noriega against his extradition to France.
The general had asked the court that he, as a prisoner of war (POW), was entitled to return to Panama after serving a reduced 17-year sentence in the US for drug trafficking and money laundering.
Noriega got POW status in 1992 by virtue of his having been captured during the December 1989 US invasion of Panama. The judge, who granted him PoW status, however said that status did not shield him from extradition to a third country.
Noriega was due to be released from the Miami prison in September 2007, but remained in custody pending the outcome of France's request for his extradition. The military leader was also sentenced in 1999 to 10 years in prison by a French court that convicted him in absentia on charges of laundering some $3.1 million in drug money.
France also promised to give the Panamanian a new trial if he is extradited.
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