Dictator’s extradition seen as dubious in the legal community

Manuel Noriaga is in “triple jeopardy.” Three different countries are eager to try him, in order to determine his guilt for crimes within their borders. Noriaga, a former Panamanian dictator, is saying that he is a prisoner of war in America, and therefore shipping him off to other countries to be tried for other crimes violates the Geneva Convention. The CNN article was much more concerned with how everyone felt about Noriega’s extradition. The contrasting International Law Reporter blog was understandably much more concerned with the legal implications of the case, as well as the dictator’s legal options. Both were sure that he would be sticking around in America for quite some time, but it seemed to be for different reasons. CNN thought there would be a delay in the current trial, but that he would then be extradited. The legal standpoint seemed convinced that Noriega had many lawful appeals left, and that he would be spending a great deal more time here in the US before any final decision was made. I definitively preferred the law blog, I felt that it was a subject within their area of expertise, and they were therefore a lot more likely to be correct in their estimations of the convicts’ fate.

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