IT is hard to imagine the quiet and dignified figure of Professor Clara Ponsati being guilty of a crime such as “violent rebellion”, but that’s exactly what Spain wanted to do last year when it issued a European arrest warrant (EAW) seeking her extradition from Scotland.

The University of St Andrews academic was appointed Catalonia’s education minister by Carles Puigdemont months before the October 2017 referendum, and as such it was her responsibility to ensure the schools which were being used as polling stations were open to voters.

She maintained her poise when caught in the middle of a violent onslaught from Spain’s National Police Corps officers, thousands of whom had been sent to stop the indyref, which Spain had declared illegal.

After the poll and a declaration of independence in the Catalan Parliament, Puigdemont and several other ministers, including Ponsati, fled abroad as then Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy imposed direct rule on Spain’s wealthiest area.

Puigdemont and others remained in Belgium, while Ponsati returned to Scotland, where the first EAW saw her arrested.

Other members of Puigdemont’s Cabinet were held in jail for as long as two years before and during their trial – which resulted in sentences totalling 100 years for nine of them.

Although Ponsati’s warrant was issued by Spain, the Crown Office had no option under the EAW system but to prosecute to the best of their ability.

A similar warrant saw Puigdemont arrested in Germany, but a court there ruled that he could not be sent back to Spain for rebellion because it was not recognised as an offence.

The Spanish strategy also backfired spectacularly in Belgium and Switzerland and authorities had no option but to withdraw the European warrants.

However, the judge responsible for their issue, Pablo Llarena – who is no friend to the independence movement – managed to keep in place Spanish national arrest warrants. Ludicrously, this meant the former ministers could travel freely within Europe, but faced arrest should they set foot in Spain.

A four-week extradition hearing of Ponsati’s case was due to start in Edinburgh in July last year, but this was abandoned when the EAW against her was withdrawn.

Her lawyer, Aamer Anwar, welcomed their withdrawal as a “tremendous victory”, and said his team’s arguments would have exposed Spain once again to the full glare of international and judicial scrutiny.

However, he was cautious about the possibility of new warrants being issued: “The issuing of any revised European Arrest Warrants would clearly be a further example of an abuse of the treaty.

“Nonetheless, we remain on standby and await the outcome of clarification from the Spanish authorities.”