Panama insists on Noriega extradition from U.S.

Panamanian strongman Manuel Antonio Noriega takes part in a news conference at the Atlapa center in this file photo in Panama City October 11,1998. Panama wants former military leader Manuel Noriega returned to serve jail time for murder when he is released from a U.S. prison in September, President Martin Torrijos said on Thursday, denying a secret deal to have Noriega extradited to France.

PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Panama wants former military leader Manuel Noriega returned to serve jail time for murder when he is released from a U.S. prison in September, President Martin Torrijos said on Thursday, denying a secret deal to have Noriega extradited to France.

Captured by U.S. forces in a 1989 invasion of Panama, Noriega was later convicted in a Miami court on multiple charges of drug trafficking and racketeering. He is due to be released on September 9 but it is not clear where he will be sent.

Panama says it wants him to serve his sentence for ordering the 1985 torture-slaying of Hugo Spadafora, a prominent opponent, but France wants him extradited to serve a 10-year jail term there for laundering money through French banks.

U.S. prosecutors this week filed extradition papers on behalf of France, his lawyer said.

Torrijos denied allegations that he has agreed to let Noriega be sent to France as part of a deal with the U.S. and French governments and to avoid political problems at home.

"We hope that he will return to Panama to fulfill the sentence he has pending," Torrijos told reporters on Thursday. "It is absurd to suggest there has been a political compromise between the three countries."

Noriega still enjoys some support in some sections of Panama's armed forces and within Torrijos' own party.

He was the intelligence chief for Torrijos' father, Omar, who ruled Panama for more than a decade until his death in a plane crash in 1981.

Noriega later seized control and was Panama's de facto leader until U.S. troops toppled him in the 1989 invasion.