Ex-Panama dictator Noriega extradited to France

05:14 PM

The BBC is reporting that former Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega has been extradited to France after serving a U.S. sentence for drug trafficking.

In 1999 a French court convicted the former general of money laundering. He faces a new trial and up to 10 years in a French prison.

Last month the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a petition to take up the case. In January the court refused to hear his appeal. A federal district court in Miami lifted the stay on his extradition last month.

Noriega, now 75, was ousted during the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama. His 30-year sentence officially ended in September 2007 after he had served 17 years, but he has been detained pending his extradition.

Updated at 5:26 p.m. ET: CBS also has the news, attributing it to the U.S. State Department. It reports that Noriega was shackled as he was escorted onto an Air France plane this afternoon in Miami.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... o-france/1