A US federal judge on Thursday blocked the extradition of former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to France, saying that he had not exhausted his possible appeals.
Noriega, 73, in September completed a 17-year US prison term on drug charges but has remained in US custody while appealing his extradition to France where he faces money laundering charges.
Judge Paul Huck in Miami said that the Panamanian former strongman was entitled to have his appeals heard by a court in the state of Georgia, and possibly even before the US Supreme Court.
"It appears that these are legal issues on which no other federal court has ruled, directly or indirectly," Huck said, ordering that the extradition procedures remain suspended.
delay
The ruling was likely to delay Noriega's extradition -- if it happens at all -- by months or even years, court observers said, with two further levels of appeal remaining.
"There are two appellate courts in US, and the judge granted Noriega's right to go until the whole process of appealing is finished at the US Supreme Court," Noriega's lawyer Jon May said.
Earlier this month the federal judge rejected a petition by Noriega to prevent his extradition on grounds that in France he would be denied the benefits he has in the US as a prisoner of war.
A French court sentenced Noriega to 10 years in prison in 1999 after his conviction in absentia on various charges, but authorities say he would be given a new trial on allegations that he deposited US$3.15 million in cocaine trafficking profits in French bank accounts in the 1980s.
surrender
The former army general held sway in Panama from 1984 until he surrendered on Jan. 3, 1990, to US troops who had invaded the country three weeks earlier.
A US Cold War ally and one-time CIA informant whose involvement with drug trafficking eventually became an embarrassment for Washington, Noriega was then flown on a military plane to Miami, where he was tried on charges of drug trafficking, money laundering and racketeering.
Noriega's lawyers have sought to have him not extradited but returned to Panama, arguing that he should be repatriated under the international Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war.
The Panamanian government has also said that it will seek Noriega's extradition to his home country, where he faces prosecution over the disappearances and murders of opposition members, but it has not yet launched such a procedure.
Arsenio Butil Jr fell to his knees and began to pray when last week’s deadly magnitude 7.8 earthquake began shaking his home on the coast of the southern Philippines. When he opened his eyes, he saw a once-familiar shoreline changing in real time, with swathes of previously submerged coral suddenly pushing above the waterline. The June 8 quake, driven by a shifting of the nearby Cotabato Trench, toppled buildings, triggered landslides and killed at least 76 people on the southern island of Mindanao. The tectonic forces at work also thrust chunks of the island’s coastline upward in a phenomenon known as “coastal uplift,”
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday said that Russian forces were preparing an impending massive attack on Ukraine and warned residents to take special care as Russian strikes in different regions killed at least six people. “Tonight and in the coming hours, it is especially important to pay close attention to air raid warnings,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. “The Russians have prepared for a massive attack. Please take care of yourselves.” Russian forces have staged a series of heavy attacks on Kyiv in the past few weeks and in other major cities. Strikes on Monday last week killed
YUCK OR YUM? While it is difficult to sell second-hand goods that are more than seven years old in Japan, they are still popular in foreign markets, an executive said Under a scorching sun in a Bangkok suburb, a whistle blew, and shouts filled the air as dozens of shoppers rushed into a warehouse bearing the sign “Japanese Second-Hand Store.” From bags and bicycles to surfboards and suitcases, the Japanese second-hand market is booming, with quality-conscious buyers in other Asian countries increasingly tapping into the circular economy trend. “What is considered garbage for them can still be useful in Thailand,” said 36-year-old Lookpoo Sathitpanyapon, who runs an online store selling toy keychains. “That bag, that bag,” one shopper shouted while racing through the warehouse, filled with everything from colorful toys
NATO ALLIES: The Italian PM accused Trump of ‘constant, unprovoked ... senseless’ attacks and said ‘my popularity is none of your concern. I suggest you focus on yours’ Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Saturday fired back at US President Donald Trump, saying his “constant, unprovoked attacks are senseless” after he escalated a diplomatic row by accusing her of repeatedly seeking a photograph with him. The clash has opened an unusually personal rift between Trump and one of Europe’s most prominent right-wing leaders, who had sought to cast herself as a bridge between Washington and the continent during Trump’s return to power. Trump had initially told Italian broadcaster La7 that Meloni “begged” him for a picture at last week’s G7 summit in France, saying he agreed only because
RSS