A federal judge today lifted his ban against Cable News Network's broadcast of Manuel Noriega's prison phone calls to his legal team. The ban on CNN's use of the tape had sparked a fierce constitutional debate, pitting the right of free speech against the right to a fair trial. ``The tapes may be published as CNN wishes to publish them,'' said U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler during a morning hearing. Noriega's attorney Frank Rubino said he no longer had any objection to CNN's use of the tapes. The only tape he challenged was a conversation between Noriega and his defense team which had already been broadcast by CNN. ``It does no good to close the barn door after the horse is out,'' Rubino said today. The judge also ordered the federal Bureau of Prisons to stop its practice of sharing tape-recorded conversations in the Noriega case with other government agencies. Hoeveler last month temporarily barred CNN from using parts of taped conversations between Noriega and his attorneys, who said airing the tapes would destroy the ousted Panamanian dictator's defense against drug charges. CNN broadcast some tapes, including a conversation between Noriega and Rubino's secretary, who acted as a translator for Rubino's investigator. An appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to lift the order, and CNN last week turned over the tapes it had obtained to Hoeveler for review. In Atlanta, CNN spokesman Steve Haworth said it was doubtful that CNN would broadcast any of the tapes today. Rubino, after the hearing, said he still intended to ask for contempt penalties against CNN for airing the tapes despite Hoeveler's order. Steven Korn, attorney for CNN parent Turner Broadcasting System Inc., said the network contended from the beginning that prior restraint was wrong. ``It's fizzled. No prior restraint is ever appropriate,'' Korn said outside the courtroom. He also said he considered the contempt issue moot. Korn emphasized the judge's order to the Bureau of Prisons, saying that was the correct approach to dealing with the taping of Noriega's phone calls. Noreiga, who is awaiting trial on charges of taking $4.6 million in payoffs to protect cocaine trade through Panama, is being held in a federal prison near Miami. Federal prison authorities monitor and tape record all inmates' telephone conversations except those between inmates and their lawyers. The government has maintained that Noriega knew the calls were being taped and that the calls were not protected by the attorney-client privelege. Information from the Noriega tapes already is in the hands of at least one additional party, the government of Panama, according to an affidavit filed Tuesday by that nation's attorney in the United States, Gregory Craig. The affidavit sought to persuade another judge hearing Panama's $6.5 billion racketeering lawsuit against the deposed dictator to freeze all Noriega's assets. Craig refused to disclose how he obtained information about the taped conversations, but the affidavit appeared to include information not broadcast by CNN. Noriega's attorneys have alleged that the U.S. government made the tapes and supplied them to Panama, which in turn leaked them to CNN, but Craig refused to comment. The affidavit said tapes of Noriega's calls show that ``while in custody, he has been using the telephone for the purpose of moving assets wrongfully obtained by him that are the property of the republic of Panama.'' Noriega spoke on the tapes to his daughter Sandra Noriega, his mistress Vicki Amado, his mistress's mother and seven others, including former pro-Noriega presidential candidate Carlos Duque, the documents said. Noriega ``directed and continues to direct the movement of assets'' from Hong Kong, Israel, Singapore, Australia and Brazil; the funds were moved to banks in Europe as well as through Costa Rica to Panama, Craig said. Craig would not say how much money was involved in the taped conversations, but added, ``We've said from the beginning that we think there is $300 million to $500 million of assets out there.'' Noriega's attorney in the civil case, Stephen Zukoff, disputed the legality of Craig's affidavit during hearing Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Edward Davis, who is presiding over the civil case. ``I don't know where he's getting his information from - he certainly should have identified it,'' Zukoff said. He said he could not discuss whether the information was accurate without examining it further. During the hearing, John Kester, another attorney for Panama, noted the tapes appeared to show Noriega was moving money from one account to another while telling Hoeveler he had no assets and could not pay his attorneys. ``He can't have it both ways,'' Kester said. Hoeveler has said he will appoint government-paid defense attorneys if the fee dispute is not settled soon.
