Catalan professor delays going to the police

A former Catalan minister facing extradition from Scotland to Spain will no longer hand herself in to police this week amid questions over the arrest warrant.

Clara Ponsati, an economics professor at St Andrews University, is facing a charge of sedition over her role in Catalonia’s unsanctioned independence referendum in 2017 and could be sentenced to 15 years behind bars if convicted.

After a fresh European arrest warrant was issued, she was expected to hand herself in to police in Edinburgh today before appearing in court in the city.

However, her legal team now says there appear to be “glaring

“They stand accused of abusing the... process”

contradictions” in the warrant, which has been sent back to Spain by UK authorities seeking clarification.

Prof Ponsati is provisionally expected to hand herself in to Scottish authorities on November 14.

Her lawyer Aamer Anwar said: “This is now Spain’s third attempt to extradite Clara and they stand accused of abusing the European arrest warrant process.

“We are instructed to robustly defend Clara in what she claims to be a ‘judicially motivated act of vengeance’ against the Catalan politicians.”

Prof Ponsati was previously arrested in March 2018 and a fourweek extradition hearing was expected to be heard at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last July.

However, a Spanish supreme court judge dropped the request and the warrant was formally discharged.

A number of Catalan politicians have been jailed in Spain.