Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.
The ex-president was convicted of plotting a armed takeover in last fall and sentenced more than over two decades in incarceration, but he was staying under house arrest pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official the presiding justice said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after "new facts" came to light.
This included trying to remove his ankle monitor and a invitation to a public vigil that could enable a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Flight Fears
In a document approving the detention, Justice Moraes said information from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's aim to disable the surveillance device to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the protest called by his child.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a legislator, called for a gathering of his followers near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on last Friday: Will you battle for your country, or watch it all from your phone there on your settee? I call on you to fight with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the chance of the former president's "relocation to embassies near the home, considering that the probes revealed a record of planning to request asylum through a embassy office", a declaration said.
The legal document emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, the capital city, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow right-wing populist United States President Trump, causing him to impose a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being detained in a national police facility in Brasilia and will undergo a detention review on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also asked that he be allowed to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other ailments.
Background on Conviction
Bolsonaro was convicted of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the presidential race to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
High Court judges said that he knew of a plot which encompassed plans to kill Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The conspiracy was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the backing of the military leaders. Lula was inaugurated without problem on January 1st, 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, many his followers invaded and destroyed government buildings in the capital, Brazil's capital.
The police stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.
The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to take action, restore order and bring him back to power.
At the period, his attorneys called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - eight years after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the trial a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him competing in the 2026 presidential election.
