Former Catalan minister Clara Ponsati has said she is "grateful to democrats" across Scotland and the UK for supporting her as she was arrested in Edinburgh under an extradition warrant.

The St Andrews University academic branded the charges against her a "political prosecution" and said people in the UK accept that "a referendum is not a crime".

The 62-year-old economics professor is being sought by Spanish authorities for sedition over her role in the Catalan independence referendum of 2017.

Ms Ponsati handed herself in to officers at St Leonard's police station earlier on Thursday ahead of a hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

She was granted bail and permitted to keep her passport, with her next hearing scheduled for December 12.

Ms Ponsati had been expected to turn herself in to police last week but her legal team said there were contradictions in the "rambling" European Arrest Warrant issued by Spain for her arrest.

It follows a previous international warrant which Spanish authorities eventually withdrew.

She could be sentenced to 15 years behind bars if convicted, with nine other Catalan officials given jail sentences of between nine and 13 years for the same offence last month.

She was an education minister in the Catalan administration at the time of the 2017 referendum, deemed illegal and unconstitutional by the Spanish state.

Speaking to STV News ahead of the hearing, Ms Ponsati said: "I have committed no offence. The accusations have no ground, I don't think.

"It was a referendum, I don't deny that, I was in the government, I don't deny that, but this is a political prosecution.

"I am very grateful to democrats across Britain for their support. Everybody in Scotland and in the United Kingdom understands that a referendum is not a crime."

Questioned by STV's senior reporter Gordon Chree on if the place for that discussion was in the Spanish courts, she replied: "The discussion about that should not be in the courts, neither the Spanish courts nor the British courts.

"These discussions should be taken to parliaments in political negotiations."

Ms Ponsati denied fleeing her native country, saying: "When I left Barcelona I was a free citizen of Europe and so I didn't flee.

"I've always been available to justice. We offered to respond to the Madrid courts' request by video.

"They refused and then they moved on to request an international arrest warrant...

"They suspended the previous one because for some reason they thought they couldn't defend it and now they've issued a new one (with) the same facts, so we'll see what they have to say."

Speaking outside Edinburgh Sheriff Court, her lawyer Aamer Anwar said: "If there is anyone who should be put on trial then it is the Spanish state for unleashing an orgy of violence on the Catalan people, for its assaults on the right to vote, the right to protest and on the fundamental human right to self-determination.

"Clara trusts that her fate now lies in the hands of the Scottish justice system, which she believes to be impartial, robust and independent.

"Our legal system will not be swayed by such interference or threats and will come to a decision based on the law.

"Clara believes that the Catalan people are changing the course of their history and that each act of repression by Spain brings the day that Catalonia is free closer."