Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwean authorities today deported Manfred Nowak, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on torture, a lawyer who witnessed the deportation said.

Nowak was flown to Johannesburg in neighboring South Africa after being detained overnight at the airport in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, Kumbirai Mafunda, a spokesman for Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, said in an interview today.

A government invitation to Nowak was canceled yesterday, hours before Nowak was due to depart Johannesburg for Zimbabwe on an eight-day fact-finding mission, the UN said in a report earlier today. The government said it had unexpected meetings that prevented it from meeting Nowak.

That cancellation was followed by an invitation from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change party.

Tsvangirai started boycotting a power-sharing government with President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National-Union Patriotic Front party on Oct. 16, citing rising violence against his party. He also accused Zanu-PF of dishonesty and disrepect.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Latham in Durban at blatham@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 29, 2009 03:40 EDT