Brazil's Supreme Court has rejected former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's bid to delay a 12-year prison sentence. The ruling means that one of the country's most popular leaders could be arrested within days. Paulo Cabral has our report.

It was a long and tense session in Brazil's Supreme Court but after about 10 hours of deliberation, the majority of Justices voted to deny Lula da Silva the right to stay free. The former president was convicted by a Federal Court to just over 12 years in prison on charges of corruption but his defense appealed to the Supreme Court requesting a habeas corpus, to leave Lula da Silva out of jail until all his higher appeals are exhausted. But by a narrow margin - 6 votes against 5 - the request was denied.

Now Lula da Silva may be days away from a having an arrest warrant issued by the court in Curitiba leading the landmark Car Wash corruption probe. It's not yet totally clear when this may happen since there are some federal court procedures sill remaining before the warrant can be issued - but most analysts believe this a now a matter of time.

This is a very divisive issue in Brazil. Lula's supporters sustain this is political persecution to support what they call a coup d'etat that would have begun with the impeachment of Workers Party president Dilma Rousseff in 2016.

GILBERTO CERVINSKI SOCIAL ACTIVIST "The objective of those who carried out this coup d’etat is to prevent Lula da Silva from running for office this year because they don't want him back in power, as he would cut short this coup."

Lula's opponents - on the other hand, say convicting Lula da Silva and sending him to jail is important to show that no one can be above the law.

SONIA EVANGELISTA ACCOUNTANT "We have to be united to give Brazil what it wants: justice. And justice is for all. If a politician is accused of corruption he needs either to prove his innocence or go to prison."

PAULO CABRAL SAO PAULO "Despite all allegations and convictions against Lula da Silva and other important members of his Workers Party, the former president still leads all voters pools for this years' presidential elections. He remains as the party's declared candidate but with this new decision it's looking increasingly unlikely that Lula da Silva's name will be on the ballot. Paulo Cabral, CGTN, Sao Paulo."