Spain's Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of the mayor of the Basque town of Hernani for "glorifying terrorism" after he publicly praised members of the armed separatist group ETA, a judicial source said Thursday.

Marian Beitialarrangoitia of the tiny extreme-left separatist party ANV was slapped with a one year jail sentence and a ban on holding public office for seven months in March 2009 by the High Court, Spain's top criminal court.

The conviction stemmed from her call for applause at an ANV rally held on January 12, 2008 in Pamplona for two alleged ETA members who had been detained days earlier on suspicion of involvement in a fatal bombing at a Madrid airport in 2006.

The two men said they had been tortured by police.

The Supreme Court agreed with the mayor's lawyers who had argued that her call for applause was a denunciation of this alleged mistreatment by the authorities and did not constitute the crime of "glorifying terrorism", the source said.

The December 30, 2006 bombing at Madrid's Barajas airport killed two men, effectively putting an end to a "permanent ceasefire" which ETA announced eight months earlier.

In September 2008 Spain's Supreme Court banned ANV on the grounds that it was acting as a replacement for Batasuna, ETA's banned political wing.

ETA is blamed for nearly 830 deaths in its 41-year campaign for independence for the Basque region of northern Spain and southwestern France.