By Tom Brown

MIAMI, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Lawyers for former Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega moved on Wednesday to block his extradition to face money laundering charges in France when his long Florida prison sentence ends on Sunday.

In papers filed in U.S. District Court in Miami, the lawyers challenged the extradition approved last week on grounds that it violated the Geneva Conventions and the protections awarded Noriega as a "prisoner of war" following the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama.

The same argument was overruled in a decision last week by Magistrate Judge William Turnoff to approve Noriega's U.S.-backed extradition to Paris.

In the papers filed, Noriega's lawyers also claimed the U.S. government had intended to sneak Noriega out of the United States ahead of his scheduled release on Sunday from the Florida prison where he has been held since his conviction on U.S. drug smuggling and racketeering charges in 1992.

Frank Rubino, Noriega's lead attorney, said U.S. authorities had secretly planned to move up Noriega's release because they were aware of the imminent appeal against his extradition.

"They knew we were going to file (an appeal) Friday morning," Rubino told Reuters.

"They were going to sneak him out in the middle of the night Thursday night so when we filed it Friday morning he'd be over the Atlantic somewhere."

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida could not immediately be reached for comment.

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