‘They want us to change our ideals,’ says jailed Catalan activist

The jailed Catalan leader Jordi Cuixart has said in an interview with the New York Times that Spanish authorities "want us to change our ideals," in reference to activists and politicians prosecuted for leading an independence bid.  

In an interview from the Lledoners penitentiary, where he’s serving a 9-year sentence, Cuixart said: “At some point, Spain is going to have to reflect and ask themselves: What are they going to do with me? Eliminate me? They can’t.”

Cuixart is the president of Òmnium Cultural, an organization promoting Catalan language and literature, which over the past decade has become one of the biggest grassroots groups pushing for independence from Spain. 

The article, published on the front page of Tuesday’s paper edition, ran with the headline ‘Separatists a headache for Spain, even from jail’, and explores the political dilemma of keeping people convicted of sedition in prison, who human rights groups say are being held for voicing and acting on their political views.