legal
Noriega files under wraps
The U.S. State Department will not disclose internal documents related to the extradition of ex-General Manuel Antonio Noriega because the extradition process still remains open.
La Prensa sent a request to the State Department for "all the documents and all the information" pertaining to the former dictator's extradition. At the time, it was assumed that France and Panama had requested the prisoner's extradition but the three governments involved refused to divulge the documents or even disclose the date on which a hearing would be held on the matter. U.S. federal law requires that extradition cases are handled in a public hearing.
The U.S. Department of Justice has just now responded to a request that has been pending since July of 2007. "These files concern a process that is ongoing in the Southern District of Florida, and one may reasonably anticipate that its disclosure at this time would interfere with that process by revealing prematurely the nature and extent of the proof gathered by the government," The letter, sent to La Prensa and dated Feb. 13, 2008, went on to say that "For that reason, we are retaining those files completely." It was signed by Thomas C. Taylor, Deputy Director of Policy at the Department of Justice.
|
