Appeals Court Upholds Ban on Noriega Tapes : Media: CNN has aired the leaked phone-tap conversations. The government argued the broadcasts could hinder the jury selection process.

A federal appeals court Saturday upheld an injunction barring Cable News Network from airing taped jailhouse conversations between Manuel A. Noriega and his defense team after the government claimed that the broadcasts will jeopardize the deposed Panamanian dictator’s right to a fair trial.

The Atlanta-based network said it will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The ruling by the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals came after the Justice Department filed a brief arguing that the broadcasts could hinder selection of an unbiased jury for Noriega’s drug-trafficking trial.

Additionally, the government argued that, because the tapes of Noriega’s telephone conversations could divulge details of his defense strategy, his right to effective counsel could be compromised.

“The government cannot at this point be more specific with respect to the possible harm that could flow from publication of the tapes because the government, like the district court, does not know the contents of the materials CNN has in its possession,” the brief stated.

In Miami, meanwhile, CNN asked U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler, who on Thursday had banned the playing of the tapes, to disqualify himself from hearing motions relating to the case.

Hoeveler told CNN’s attorneys Friday that it would be in contempt of court if it broadcast more tapes, but the network aired them anyway, arguing that Hoeveler’s order amounted to unconstitutional prior restraint.

The appeals panel in Atlanta called on the network to produce the tapes in Hoeveler’s courtroom.

“The 1st Amendment interests and public will best be served by immediate production of the tapes . . . so that the district court can conduct the difficult balancing of constitutional rights,” the panel said.

Saturday’s ruling heats up the battle between the network and the courts--pitting CNN’s concerns over its 1st Amendment rights against the Justice Department’s efforts to convict Noriega, who is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center outside Miami. He has been there since shortly after he surrendered to U.S. troops who invaded Panama last December.

“CNN has shackled the district court by refusing that court’s reasonable request to review the audiotapes it has in its possession,” the appeals court said.

In a statement after the ruling Saturday, Tom Johnson, CNN president, said that network attorneys “are reviewing the decision” and that CNN “will pursue an immediate appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.”

In Miami, Hoeveler convened a special Saturday afternoon session of the district court to hear a motion by Noriega’s attorney, Frank A. Rubino, that CNN be held in contempt for airing the telephone tapes.

That hearing was quickly derailed, however, when CNN attorney Terry S. Bienstock asked Hoeveler to disqualify himself from hearing any matters related to CNN’s broadcast of the Noriega tapes. He cited “personal bias and prejudice” based on “extra-judicial statements” Hoeveler made to reporters Friday.

On his way out of the courthouse parking lot Friday, Hoeveler had indicated to a CNN reporter that he would find the network in contempt for airing more Noriega tapes in defiance of his orders.

CNN’s motion to dismiss Hoeveler from ruling on the tapes will be considered today or Monday by presiding U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King.

The taped telephone conversations, in which Noriega and his defense team discussed two potential government witnesses and speculated on prosecution strategy, have fueled assertions that, although Noriega is jailed in America, he still has power in Panama.

In Panama City, La Prensa, the city’s largest newspaper, warned Saturday that Noriega’s ability to make telephone calls is a sign that he could be plotting to overthrow the pro-American government of President Guillermo Endara.

Times special correspondent Mike Clary in Miami also contributed to this story.