Scots lawyer Aamer Anwar says Spanish authorities "acting like God" over Catalan extradition

Ponsatí faces charges of rebellion and the misappropriation of public funds in her role in the Catalan regional government, which organised what the Spanish courts deemed was an illegal independence referendum in October. The 19-page warrant blames her in part for injuries it claims members of the Spanish security forces suffered as they attempted to close down polling stations.

A full hearing is due to take place on July 30 and is expected to last two weeks, with preliminary hearings planned for June 12 and July 5.

Mr Anwar, the Scots human rights lawyer who became the University of Glasgow rector dismissed claims that Ms Ponsati was attempting to evade justice saying: "How can you evade justice if there is no justice.

"The only people we saw evading justice is what's been claimed publicly as several thousand police officers, security forces that came into Catalonia that day and attacked the people. If you want to talk about justice, name me one police officer that is standing trial for attacking, brutally attacking, punching, kicking a people who had done nothing wrong. And the answer is zero."

He told the TV and online audience: "We have said we fear for Clara's safety. It will run before the Supreme Court. The very fact it is before the Supreme Court means there is no right of appeal and that's not acceptable. If someone is to receive a sentence of up to 33 years, as Clara is threatened with, ultimately Clara with respect is 61 years old that's almost like a death sentence.

"What else does that mean for someone who's 61 to spend 33 years of their life in prison and have no right of appeal. "That's almost like saying the Supreme Court is infallable. Nobody is infallable apart from God. And the Supreme Court is certainly not God. But they are acting like God.

"Human rights trumps the Supreme Court."

He condemned the actions of the Spanish government in "crushing and silencing the voice of the Catalan people" saying it was "almost as though General Franco [ the military dictator who ruled Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975] was still alive and dictating to the security services and to his government".

Prof Ponsati, who had been working as the director of the School of Economics and Finance at the University of St Andrews since January 2016, before being appointed as the Catalan government's education minister in July of last year, was formally arrested in March after arriving voluntarily at an Edinburgh police station.

Former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, who faces similar charges, was also taken into custody in Germany at the time.

Mr Anwar after lodging a draft legal argument last week, said that winning the case against extradition would only be a "small step" because as long as she and Mr Puigdemont remained in exile "then we are losing, becuase they should be able to come home to Catalonia one day..."

In a no-holds-barred attack on the rule of law and the Spanish government, Mr Anwar he told TV3 viewers: "When...the European Union... came about, it was to make sure that never again would we have the politics of fascism on our streets that democracy would always be the number one issue, yet we don't seem to be seeing that anymore. And that's sad, that's very very sad.

"They seem to believe that Spanish law is admired and respected around Europe. No longer. Because people are starting to ask questions about how they can do this.

"If tomorrow, Nicola Sturgeon, who is the First Minister for Scotland, decided she wanted an independence vote again, and Theresa May, the Prime Minister, sent 7000 members of the Metropolitan Police, the London police and several thousand troops to Scotland to punch to kick, to use violence, use tanks etc against the Scottish people, we would be independent within 24 hours. Because the Scottish people would say, no, that's not the rule of law, that's oppression, that's colonialism, that's dictatorship. What else can you call what took place on the first of October.

"There are lots of things that governments around the world have called illegal. In America black people didn't have the right to vote. Once slavery used to be legal. And even in Scotland some politicians have said the Spanish government declared it unlawful therefore they are correct.

"Just because the Spanish government says something is illegal or unlawful doesn't mean it is right internationally. There is a fundamental human right which is the right to self-determination and is guaranteed under the United Nations. "

He said that Ms Ponsati's case could only be a political trial which would mean that it would not be fair or impartial.

He added: "We believe that the judiciary for a very long time has not been independent and that this is a political persecution and prosecution of Clara Ponsati, as well as the other political exiles and those who are in custody in Spain at this moment.

"When I look at 56 pages of the warrant and it says my client Clara Ponsati is guilty of rebellion with violence. I go through the 56 pages and I go when did she use a truncheon? When did she use plastic bullets? When did she kick a policeman? When did she punch a policeman? When did she send in her supporters in riot gear to attack the police officers? I can't find a single instance.

"And...we have accused the Spanish government of using the European arrest warrant as a tool of political represssion. It is not [just] about silencing Clara and the other politicians. It's about silencing the voice of the Catalan people. And we find that surprising in Scotland. Because we had our own independence movement and we voted and sadly we voted against independence. We came close. One day we will get independence, but we were given the right to do so, because it's a human right.

"For some reason the Spanish government are not giving something that is internationally recognised as a human right. Whether the people of Catalonia vote yes or whether the people of Catalonia vote no, that should be their decision.

He said the crushing of the referendum was "almost an attempt to criminalise the aspirations of the people for freedom, or the right to vote".

He added: "The European Union came about because of the Holocaust, because of Adolf Hitler, an old friend of Franco... [so that this would] never again happen in Europe. And that is why I find it so shocking.

"What the people of Scotland and the UK find so shocking [is that this is] happening on their doorstep. Because this isn't Russia, it's not somewhere in Africa it is in the heart of Europe and I have described it as shades of Franco-ism."