Portugal's supreme court has overturned a decision by a lower Lisbon court to grant India's request for the extradition of gangster Abu Salem.

The SC upheld his appeal against extradition, Joao Nabais, Salem's lawyer, told Lisbon radio TSF on Friday.

Based on the SC's ruling, the case was to return to the lower court for a review of its earlier decision.

Salem's extradition will be delayed until the lower court's decision. That is not expected until after the summer recess in September.

Salem was arrested in Lisbon in September 2002. Last November, a Lisbon court convicted him of using forged identity papers and resisting arrest. He was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in jail.

Nabais had previously argued that Salem would not get a fair trial in India and claimed that his life would be in danger if he returned there.

Salem is wanted in India in connection with the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai, which killed 257 people, and many other cases.