Former Panama Dictator Noriega Cremated

PANAMA CITY, June 1, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 01st Jun, 2017 ) - Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was cremated on Wednesday, two days after dying in hospital aged 83, his lawyer Ezra Angel told AFP.

"The cremation, the religious ceremony and the handover of his ashes have happened," Angel said, without giving further details. The disposal of Noriega's body came after a small group of his relatives and friends gathered on Tuesday to pay private tribute to the strongman, who ruled over his Central American nation from 1983 to 1989.

Noriega died on Monday in the public Santo Tomas hospital in Panama City, where he had been recovering since surgery in March to remove a benign brain tumor.

He had been granted temporary release from prison for the operation.

He had been serving three consecutive 20-year sentences for the murders and disappearance of opponents during his reign. A friend who attended Tuesday's memorial service for Noriega, Ruben Murgas, said it had been "deeply moving and full of emotion." Noriega was toppled from power in a US military invasion of Panama in December 1989, and served time behind bars in America and then in France for drug trafficking and money laundering before being deported back to his country in 2011 for incarceration there.

His family said he suffered strokes, respiratory problems, prostate cancer and depression in his later years.