Zimbabwe deports former U.S. congressman, Reynolds, over expired visa
Former United States congressman, Mel Reynolds, was deported
from Zimbabwe on Sunday after he pleaded guilty to staying in the southern African
country on an expired visa, a senior immigration official said on Monday.
Reynolds, 62, was arrested at a Harare hotel last week and
was fined by a magistrate court.
But the court dismissed additional pornography charges
against him on a technicality after the prosecution failed to clear the charges
through the Prosecutor-General's office as required by law.
``We deported him as ordered by the court, but I am sorry
that we are not in a position to discuss details of what flight or route we put
him on,’’ immigration officer Francis Mabika told Reuters.
Although Reynolds pleaded guilty to the visa charge, he had
denied charges he was found with nude pictures and videos of women and men
having sexual intercourse on his mobile phone.
Possession of pornography is illegal in Zimbabwe.
The state-owned Herald newspaper reported last Tuesday that
Reynolds had run up 24,500 dollars in unpaid hotel bills.
Reynolds, a former Rhodes Scholar, was a fast-rising star in
the U.S. Democratic Party when he was forced to resign in 1995 after being
convicted of sexual assault, obstruction of justice and solicitation of child
pornography.
In recent years he had recast himself as a champion of U.S.
investment in Africa.
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