IPS - The past week brought new scrutiny of Zimbabwe’s human rights record with the deportation of a senior U.N. official sent to investigate torture there, and demands by a coalition of civil society groups that the international community address human rights violations stemming from Zimbabwe’s lucrative diamond industry.

Special Rapporteur Manfred Nowak had been invited to Zimbabwe by Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition party leader and prime minister, but Tsvangirai cut off cooperation with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF, leading to Nowak’s deportation.

Upon his arrival in Harare on Oct. 29, Nowak was denied entry to Zimbabwe and sent back to Johannesburg.

“The president feels it is not a good thing if an independent human rights expert is assessing the situation of torture and ill-treatment in the country,” said Nowak at his arrival in Johannesburg.

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