Spain calls on UN to revise report on jailed Catalans

MADRID – Spain's caretaker government is calling on the United Nations to revise an expert panel's conclusion calling for the release of three jailed Catalan officials on trial for pushing for independence in the northeastern region of Catalonia.

Government spokeswoman Isabel Celaá said Friday the opinion issued this week by the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention contained "mistakes and distortions."

Spain also claims there is a conflict of interest on the panel because two of its five members have links to the British lawyer representing the Catalan separatists, Ben Emmerson.

The experts in the working group are appointed by the U.N.'s Human Rights Council based in Geneva, but their opinions are independent and aimed at pressuring governments, which have often ignored them.