A Zimbabwean court on Monday denied bail to an opposition lawmaker and two activists accused of lying to police about being abducted and tortured last month, a lawyers' group said.

Movement for Democratic Change Alliance MP Joana Mamombe and party youth assembly activists Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova were arrested at their lawyer's offices last Thursday.

They had visited the lawyer to discuss another case in which they were charged for staging a protest last month.

"They have been denied bail," a spokesperson for Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Kumbirai Mafunda, told journalists after they appeared in court.

Last Wednesday, nine UN special rapporteurs - who do not speak for the UN but report their findings to it - called on Zimbabwe to drop the earlier charges against the women and stop the reported pattern of disappearances and torture.