( CNN ) -- Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega , who is serving time in prison for crimes committed during his rule , was taken to a hospital , Panamanian police said Sunday . He was moved to the Panama City hospital because of hypertension and a possible stroke , they said , citing his medical team . He is 77 . Noriega returned to Panama late last year , nearly 22 years after U.S. forces forcibly removed him from office . He previously served time in French and American prisons . He was convicted in absentia in Panama , where officials want Noriega to face justice in the killings of Hugo Spadafora , his political opponent , and at least one other person . For almost 20 years , Noriega was a major player in a country of critical regional importance to the United States because of its location on the Panama Canal , the key strategic and economic waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans on the narrow isthmus linking the Americas . Amid growing unrest in Panama , then-U.S. President George H.W . Bush ordered the invasion of Panama in December 1989 , saying Noriega 's rule posed a threat to U.S. lives and property . Noriega fled his offices and tried to seek sanctuary in the Vatican Embassy in Panama City . He surrendered in January 1990 and was quickly escorted to the United States for civilian trial . Noriega was indicted in the United States on charges of racketeering , laundering drug money and drug trafficking . He was accused of having links to Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar 's notorious Medellin cartel and , in the process , amassing a multimillion-dollar fortune . He was convicted of drug trafficking and other crimes in the United States . While in U.S. custody , he suffered from prostate cancer and a stroke . In 2010 , a French court sentenced Noriega to seven years in prison for laundering 2.3 million euros ( $ 2.9 million ) through banks there . A French court authorized his extradition to Panama .
Manuel Noriega was moved because of hypertension , possible stroke , police say . He was transferred from prison , where he was sent for crimes while in France . He returned to Panama late last year after two years in French , U.S. prisons .