<p class="title">Former Catalan minister Clara Ponsati, wanted in Spain for her role in the region's unilateral bid for independence in 2017, was arrested by Scottish police on Thursday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ponsati, 62, handed herself in at a police station in Edinburgh before a scheduled court appearance to face a sedition charge stemming from Catalonia's unsanctioned referendum.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A small group of demonstrators displaying Catalan and Scottish independence flags and banners greeted her outside St Leonard's police station.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Madrid first attempted to extradite the St Andrews University academic, a former education minister in the regional government of deposed Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, last year.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But a Spanish Supreme Court judge abruptly dropped European and international arrest warrants for her and several other separatist leaders in July, 2018.</p>.<p class="bodytext">However, the same court on October 14 sentenced nine Catalan separatist leaders to lengthy prison terms over the failed 2017 independence bid and issued a fresh arrest warrant for Ponsati.</p>.<p class="bodytext">She has branded the charge "a prosecution with political motivations".</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We believe this is an abuse of the extradition process," her lawyer Aamer Anwar said outside the police station.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The crime of sedition is a 16th-century offence", he added, noting it was abolished long ago in Scotland.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We will be fighting this on the basis of Clara's human rights being abused if she is returned back to Spain."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ponsati's legal team is expected to apply for bail at the afternoon hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.</p>
<p class="title">Former Catalan minister Clara Ponsati, wanted in Spain for her role in the region's unilateral bid for independence in 2017, was arrested by Scottish police on Thursday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ponsati, 62, handed herself in at a police station in Edinburgh before a scheduled court appearance to face a sedition charge stemming from Catalonia's unsanctioned referendum.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A small group of demonstrators displaying Catalan and Scottish independence flags and banners greeted her outside St Leonard's police station.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Madrid first attempted to extradite the St Andrews University academic, a former education minister in the regional government of deposed Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, last year.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But a Spanish Supreme Court judge abruptly dropped European and international arrest warrants for her and several other separatist leaders in July, 2018.</p>.<p class="bodytext">However, the same court on October 14 sentenced nine Catalan separatist leaders to lengthy prison terms over the failed 2017 independence bid and issued a fresh arrest warrant for Ponsati.</p>.<p class="bodytext">She has branded the charge "a prosecution with political motivations".</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We believe this is an abuse of the extradition process," her lawyer Aamer Anwar said outside the police station.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The crime of sedition is a 16th-century offence", he added, noting it was abolished long ago in Scotland.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We will be fighting this on the basis of Clara's human rights being abused if she is returned back to Spain."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ponsati's legal team is expected to apply for bail at the afternoon hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.</p>