judicial

Noriega hearing delayed until Jan.

The hearing to be held in Florida on the appeal that Manuel Antonio Noriega has filed against his extradition to France has been delayed.

That hearing was scheduled for the week of Nov. 10, but has been postponed until January, according to Noriega's lawyer, Jon May.

At the moment there is no exact date for the hearing, but it is known to be on the agenda of the Federal Court of Appeal in Miami for the week of Jan. 12, 2009.

The exact time and date will be announced later. It will be chaired by a panel of three judges, who normally issue a ruling several months after the hearing.

Noriega remains in federal prison in Miami until the decision on his extradition is made, his lawyer said.

May said the rumor circulating in Panama that his client had been released and is living in an apartment in Miami is not true.

“The apartment where General Noriega is living is the same one that he has lived in for the past 18 years,” May said, referring to the special cell that Noriega occupies at the Federal Correctional Institution in Miami.

Because of his status as a prisoner of war, Noriega was separated from other inmates in the prison, and has a special cell that apparently has three rooms, a phone and a color television.

According to Time magazine, this room looks more like a condominium than a cell.

Noriega was scheduled to be released from prison on Sept. 9, 2007, but has already spent an additional year in custody while trying to block his extradition to France.

If extradited, he will face money laundering charges in that country.