JOHANNESBURG: A South Africa parole board was meeting on Friday to determine if champion Paralympian Oscar Pistorius should leave jail, weeks after the justice minister blocked his release.

Pistorius was due to leave prison in August to serve under house arrest the remainder of his five-year sentence for shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

But he was kept behind bars after Justice Minister Michael Masutha made a last minute intervention blocking his release, in the latest twist to the case that has grabbed global headlines.

Last year, Pistorius was found guilty of culpable homicide for shooting his model girlfriend Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine’s Day 2013.

The star athlete known as the “Blade Runner” argued that he shot the law graduate after mistaking her for an intruder; prosecutors said he did so deliberately.

The 28-year-old was expected to be freed in August and placed under house arrest after serving 10 months of his sentence.

But in a surprise move, justice minister Masutha said that the parole board made a mistake when they approved parole before Pistorius had served a sixth of his five-year sentence, as required by law.

Now a parole review board, a panel of legal experts chaired by a judge, will meet in the eastern port city of Durban to determine if the earlier decision to release Pistorius was legal.

If the panel decides Pistorius should be released from prison, the athlete might be able to leave jail immediately, said his lawyer Brian Webber to AFP.