HARARE - Former U.S. congressman Melvin Reynolds was deported from Zimbabwe on Sunday after being convicted for flouting the countrys immigration laws. His lawyer Arthur Gurira told Xinhua Monday that Reynolds left Zimbabwe after paying a 100 U.S. dollar fine on Saturday for prolonging his stay in the country without a valid visa. Arrested on Monday last week, a Harare magistrate convicted him for overstaying in the country on Friday, and ordered him to either pay a fine or stay in prison for five days. He left Zimbabwe yesterday (Sunday). He paid his fine on Saturday and then left on Sunday, Gurira said. Reynolds was also facing charges of illegal possession of pornography but the magistrate dismissed them after the state failed to produce the requisite prosecution order. Reynolds resigned from the U.S. Congress in 1995 after being convicted of statutory rape. He was later convicted of bank fraud and served a prison sentence before being pardoned by then president Bill Clinton. He had been regularly coming to Zimbabwe in recent months for business.
