The courts have again refused a request to temporarily release a man who may have been wrongly jailed two years for defiling his daughter.

In his decree Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi said the court could not uphold the request of the man’s lawyer, Tonio Azzopardi, because it did not have the power to reopen a case that had already been closed.

In a tweet, auxiliary bishop Charles Scicluna said this was "an unacceptable state of affairs: summum ius summa iniuria (supreme justice, supreme injustice). Shame".

A hearing was held yesterday afternoon on an urgent application filed earlier in the day in the Court of Appeal by Dr Azzopardi.

The application was filed in front of Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano who ruled he was not able to hear the case as he had already decided on it.

It was later decided that there would be an urgent hearing in the evening in front of Mr Justice Mizzi. Mr Mizzi’s decision was given to the media this morning.

The man, whose term had been confirmed by the Court of Appeal, on Wednesday filed an application requesting his release at the Magistrates’ Court after his estranged wife was charged with making up the abuse story.

The request was denied on Thursday by Magistrate Aaron Bugeja, who said he could not let the man go as the law did not cater for such situations.

In his application in the Court of Appeal, Dr Azzopardi said this court knew how much the man had insisted on his innocence.