Former dictator Noriega to face justice in Panama

FORMER military strongman Manuel Antonio Noriega was flown home to Panama yesterday to be punished once again for crimes he committed during a career that saw him transformed from a Cold War ally of Washington to the target of a US invasion.

Noriega left Orly airport, south of Paris, after a convoy escorted him from La Sante prison.

Noriega’s return comes after more than 20 years in US and French prisons for drug trafficking and money laundering. Panama convicted him during his captivity overseas for the slayings of two political opponents in the 1980s.