Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.
The ex-president was sentenced of orchestrating a armed takeover in the ninth month and sentenced more than a 27-year term in jail, but he was staying under home detention pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" came to light.
This encompassed seeking to disable his electronic bracelet and a invitation to a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Flight Fears
In a document approving the arrest, the magistrate said data from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to secure accomplishment in his flight.
This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the protest called by his child.
His offspring, his son Flávio, who serves as a legislator, called for a meeting of his followers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your country, or observe everything from your phone there on your settee? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's decision was the potential of the former president's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of organizing to ask for protection through a embassy office", a statement said.
The court filing emphasizes that the United States embassy in the capital, Brasilia, is positioned around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist US President Donald Trump, leading him to impose a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being held in a Federal Police station in the capital and will have a custody hearing on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with tracking devices.
They also requested that the former president be allowed to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he required frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other health problems.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was convicted of orchestrating a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the presidential race to his political opponent, Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a scheme which included plans to kill the current president and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The plot was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the support of the armed forces officials. Lula was inaugurated without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on January 8th, numerous Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed government buildings in the capital, Brazil's capital.
The police took action and around 1,500 people were arrested.
The judges found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, bring back stability and bring him back to power.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from running for public office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the next presidential race.
