A SCOT being held without charge in a Barcelona jail is being buoyed by letters from friends and supporters, his partner has told The National.

William Aitken, who has lived in the Catalan capital for more than four years, was arrested on February 27 as protests raged across Spain in support of rapper Pablo Hasel, who was jailed because of his lyrics criticising the Spanish monarchy.

Political and civic groups had urged social media users to write to the Scot at the prison where he is being held.

The 30-year-old’s partner, Fernanda Soler, told The National Aitken had gone skateboarding on the night he was arrested, while she stayed at their home.

She said: “We weren’t together that night, he went skateboarding and I was at home waiting for him.

“It was on February 17, the night they took him to a police station and the next day to Brians 1 [prison] because he was seen as a flight risk after Brexit.”

Soler said she and lawyer, David Aranda, had worked to sort out Aitken’s paperwork to ensure he did not lose his job and prepared for an appeal against his “preventative detention”.

READ MORE: Brexit means Scot could be kept in Barcelona jail for rest of month

“We have seen him already three times,” she said. “He is doing well and is being treated well.

“He is trying to keep himself busy with Spanish classes, sports with his cell mate and friends he made in the prison ... he has started to receive letters from friends, so he is happier.”

Aranda said Aitken had been accused of public order offences and was alleged to have taken part in the Hasel protests, some of which turned into riots.

The lawyer said he had been kept in jail as a foreigner – because the judge had considered him a citizen of the UK which was no longer a member of the EU.

However, the lawyer said he had appealed to a higher court: “Our appeal is waiting to be send to the Audiencia Provincial. We will have some answer in maybe three or four weeks.”

Meanwhile, it has emerged that Spain’s efforts in another legal case – the extradition of three Catalan MEPs who have had their parliamentary immunity revoked – may not be heard for a year.

Former president Carles Puigdemont and former ministers Clara Ponsati and Toni Comin had their immunity lifted earlier this week, after which Spain’s Supreme Court asked the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary ruling in the case of another exiled former minister Lluis Puig.

Belgian authorities refused to hand him over on the grounds that the court did not have the authority to try him because he no longer held a government post.

They had also expressed concern that Puig’s presumption of innocence might be at risk in Spain after the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention highlighted those politicians who are now serving jail terms rather than being in exile.

Judge Pablo Llarena asked the ECJ for a ruling on whether the same arguments could be used against a European arrest warrant, but lawyers for the MEPs said the court could take a year or more to answer.

Meanwhile, arrest warrants against the trio will remain frozen.