Noriega asks US Supreme Court for rehearing

[February 20, 2010]  MIAMI (AP) -- Panama's former dictator Manuel Noriega is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider his opposition to being extradited to France on money laundering charges.

Noriega's attorneys filed a petition for rehearing Friday. It is largely based on a dissent by Justice Clarence Thomas, who argued in January the court should take up Noriega's case.

A Miami federal judge declared Noriega a prisoner of war after he was convicted of U.S. drug trafficking charges.

Because of his POW status, Noriega contends under the Geneva Conventions he should have been repatriated to Panama after his prison sentence ended in September 2007.

Lower courts rejected that argument. He is still being held in a Miami prison.

[Associated Press]

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