Four pro-independence Catalan leaders imprisoned for their role in the 2017 referendum began their hunger strike last week

DOZENS of MEPs have called upon the Spanish state to release Catalan political prisoners with all charges dropped, as four of the jailed leaders continue with a hunger strike.

Jordi Sànchez’s bid for the Catalan presidency is supported by two key pro-independence parties

JORDI SANCHEZ, the imprisoned former leader of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), has been denied permission by the Spanish Supreme Court to be temporarily freed in order to be sworn in as Catalan president.

Sànchez was named by former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont as his preferred successor after Puigdemont “provisionally” stepped down from the presidency while he remains in exile in Belgium.