Spain to overhaul sedition law used to jail Catalan independence leaders

Socialist-led coalition to rename offence aggravated public disorder' and reduce maximum sentence to five years

Spain's Socialist-led coalition government has announced plans to overhaul the archaic sedition law that was used to prosecute the Catalan leaders who tried to secede from the rest of the country after the illegal and unilateral referendum held five years ago.

Under the Spanish penal code, the offence of sedition - which dates back to 1822 - is defined as rising up publicly and tumultuously to prevent, through force or beyond legal means, the application of the law". It carries a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.