Former Catalan minister Clara Ponsati has handed herself into a police station in Edinburgh after Spanish authorities issued a European Arrest Warrant.

The St Andrews University professor is being sought for sedition over her role in the Catalan independence referendum of 2017.

Ms Ponsati had been expected to hand herself in to police last week, but her legal team said there were contradictions in the "rambling" warrant issued for her arrest.

However, the warrant has now been accepted by UK authorities for execution following a clarification from Spain's Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena.

Last month, nine other Catalan officials were given jail sentences of nine to 13 years for sedition.

The 2017 Catalan referendum was unsanctioned by the Spanish government and deemed unconstitutional, with a police crackdown in the region on the day of the vote.

At the time of the vote, 62-year-old Ms Ponsati - an economics professor at St Andrews - was an education minister in the Catalan administration.

Speaking outside St Leonard's police station on Thursday, Ms Ponsati's lawyer Aamer Anwar said: "We believe this is an abuse of the extradition process, we believe this is an abuse of the European Arrest Warrant.

"The crime of sedition is a 16th century offence that was created by kings and queens to stop backlash from ordinary people that wanted their rights.

"Luckily in Scotland, sedition was abolished a long time ago.

"We will be fighting this on the basis of Clara's human rights being abused if she is returned back to Spain."

Prof Ponsati was previously arrested in March 2018 and a four-week 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.