The former Catalan minister Carla Ponsati will fight her extradition to Spain on the basis that the Spanish authorities are abusing international law to pursue a “politically motivated prosecution”.

Her lawyer Aamer Anwar said following a court hearing in Edinburgh that the European arrest warrant issued for his client was a “grotesque distortion of the truth”.

He also claimed the “brutal” behaviour of Spanish police officers at polling stations last October, when Catalonia held a controversial independence referendum, had been “compared to the dark days of Francoism".

Prof Ponsati was greeted by a crowd of supporters on Thursday as she arrived at the city’s Sheriff Court.

During a brief procedural hearing, Gordon Jackson QC said he intended to challenge the extradition on grounds including the validly of the warrant, the extraditability of the offences and his client's human rights.

He told Sheriff Nigel Ross: "The fundamental position which is taken here is the abuse of process. This is wrapping up in legalistic form something which is purely a political decision.