The jailed US polygamist sect leader, Warren Jeffs, has been exercising his rights against extradition from Utah to Texas.

Jeffs, who was indicted in Texas in 2008 on a felony charge of sexual assault of a child, is currently in Utah on lesser charges, which the state has decided to waive so he can be sent back to Texas.

Mr Jeffs will stay in the Utah jail for at least two more months after his lawyers objected to their client agreeing to an extradition waiver on Tuesday.

Utah Governor Gary Herbert signed the extradition warrant to send Jeffs to Texas, where he could face a penalty of five to 99 years or life in prison.

The Texas indictment accuses Jeffs of assaulting a child "younger than 17 years of age and not legally married to the defendant" in January 2005.

Self-billed as a"prophet" of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a polygamist breakaway group from the Mormon church, Jeffs has been in jail in Utah for allegedly being an accomplice to rape.

He was accused of using his religious influence over his followers to coerce a 14-year-old girl into marriage with her 19-year-old cousin.