Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under domestic detention.
The ex-president was found guilty of planning a government overthrow in last fall and sentenced more than 27 years in prison, but he was staying under confinement pending appeals.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" came to light.
This involved seeking to disable his electronic bracelet and a call for a demonstration that could facilitate a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the detention, the judge said information from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the surveillance device to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a senator, called for a gathering of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.
The senator wrote on online platforms on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your sofa? I urge you to battle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the possibility of Bolsonaro's move to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a history of planning to ask for protection through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The court filing underscores that the United States embassy in the federal district, Brasilia, is located around 8 miles from his dwelling.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist American leader Donald Trump, leading him to implement a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.
He is being detained in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will experience a custody hearing on Sunday.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that the former president be authorized to leave his home for healthcare, saying he needed ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was convicted of leading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the presidential race to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a scheme which encompassed plans to assassinate Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The scheme was stopped because it didn't receive the backing of the army and air force commanders. Lula was sworn in without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, many his backers attacked and damaged public facilities in the federal district, Brazil's capital.
The security forces intervened and around 1,500 people were detained.
The justices found that the demonstrators had been provoked by him whose plan, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also barred from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - eight years after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 national vote.
