Turkey jails several Istanbul officials

The announcement comes amid opposition crackdown in Turkey and following Istanbul's chairman, Ekrem Imamoglu's arrest.

Imamoglu, Turkey's top political rival, Recep Tayip Erdogan, was imprisoned in March and is now awaiting trial on charges of corruption. He is also accused of helping a terrorist group.

Imamoglu has denied all charges, and his arrest sparked the biggest protests in Turkey in the last decade, riots and charges of politicised judiciary, Periscope.

The Turkish government denies all these claims and says the judiciary is independent.

Transmitter NTV has reported that 34 of the 52 people who were arrested over the weekend have been released on parole.

Turkish media reported on Saturday that authorities had detained dozens of Istanbul's municipality employees as part of the court investigation focused on Imamoglu, extending the crackdown on the opposition, which began last year.

Among the arrested officials are the general secretary of the municipality, Imamoglu's chief of staff, the chairman and deputy chairman of the water administration in Istanbul and the head of this department. /REL/