American Koran-burning preacher jailed

The militant Christian preacher Terry Jones was briefly jailed after a Michigan court ruled that a protest he planned outside a mosque was likely to provoke violence and ordered him to stay away.

Mr Jones, whose burning of the Koran in March triggered deadly riots in Afghanistan, had planned a protest outside the largest mosque in the United States.

Mr Jones was sent to jail on Friday after he refused to pay a $1 bond ordered by Judge Mark Somers, who also ordered him to stay away from the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn for three years.

Police said Mr Jones and a supporter, Wayne Sapp, were later released from custody after the token $1 bond was paid.

A six-person jury in a Dearborn court decided earlier that the planned protest was "likely to breach the peace" in the Detroit suburb with a large Muslim American population.

Mr Jones, 59, is the leader of a tiny, fringe fundamentalist church in Gainesville, Florida. He was an unknown until he courted publicity and controversy by burning the Koran as part of what he describes as a campaign against "radical Islam".

He had asked for a permit to stage a protest on Good Friday on public land opposite the mosque. City officials said the mosque and four nearby churches were expected to be crowded at the time.