Attorney says Noriega release political

Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega wants U.S. officials to send him back to his home country when he finishes his drug trafficking and racketeering sentence next month, but American prosecutors are pushing for him to be extradited to France to face another trial.

Noriega, 72, appeared in federal court Monday as attorneys debated the ongoing question of where he will be sent when he finishes his sentence in a Miami prison on Sept. 9.

During the hearing, Noriega wore a military uniform and his dark hair slicked back, pausing at points to put on glasses and read documents, and conferring with an attorney. He used a headset to follow a Spanish translation.

His lawyers say because he is a prisoner of war, he should be sent to Panama, where he wants to fight a conviction in the slayings of two political opponents. U.S. prosecutors, meanwhile, are pushing for him to be extradited to France, where he was convicted in absentia in 1999 on money-laundering charges.

"The government of the U.S., for its own reasons, very much wants to see Gen. Noriega sent to France," Noriega's attorney Jon May told Senior U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler.

Federal prosecutors did not respond to those allegations either in court or afterward.

Hoeveler, who also presided over Noriega's original trial, said he will rule on Aug. 24 on Noriega's request to be sent immediately to Panama when he gets out of prison. A magistrate judge will separately decide on France's extradition request.

During Monday's hearing, Hoeveler questioned prosecutor Sean Cronin on why Noriega should be sent to France, considering the crimes he faces at home are more serious.

Noriega's attorneys argue that Hoeveler had previously declared Noriega a prisoner of war, a designation that they say requires he be sent home to Panama under the Geneva Conventions. Cronin said the Geneva Conventions do not prohibit his extradition to France.

U.S. forces captured Noriega after a 1989 military invasion ordered by then-President George H.W. Bush in part because of the Panamanian's links to drug traffickers. It later emerged that Noriega had been on the CIA payroll for years, assisting U.S. interests throughout Latin America, including acting as liaison to Cuban President Fidel Castro.

In 1992, Noriega was tried and convicted in the U.S. of accepting bribes to allow shipments of U.S.-bound cocaine through Panama. His 30-year sentence has been reduced for good behavior.

Panamanians, meanwhile, are split on whether Noriega should be imprisoned in their country. A poll conducted in July before the U.S. announced plans to try to extradite him to France found 47 percent of Panamanians want him imprisoned their country and 44 percent want him sent to a third country. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

(This version CORRECTS that judge will rule on whether Noriega is sent immediately to Panama.)