Press TV- A court in the Turkish city of Istanbul has ordered the imprisonment of nine of 13 journalists and staffers of a major opposition newspaper, saying they should go to jail pending trial.

Local Turkish media said the nine from Cumhuriyet daily were imprisoned on Saturday but no date was specified for their trial.

On Friday, Turkish authorities arrested Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, the co-leaders of the country’s pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, also known as the HDP, along with nine other lawmakers.

The arrests marked an escalation in the government’s months-long crackdown that has seen many put behind bars or suspended from work over allegations of being linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Fethullah Gulen, a US-based cleric accused by Ankara of orchestrating the abortive coup of July 15. Gulen denies the accusation.

Thirteen staff members of Cumhuriyet, including some of the most prominent names in Turkish journalism, were detained on October 31.

The Cumhuriyet staffers imprisoned on Saturday include editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu, celebrated cartoonist Musa Kart and influential columnist Kadri Gursel. Columnists Hikmet Cetinkaya and Aydin Engin were released on judicial control while two others who were accountants working with the paper were released without charge.

The new court order is expected to stir unprecedented criticism from Turkey’s allies in the West as they had earlier voiced concern about Ankara’s repressive policies toward the media.

Officials in the European Union and the United States also reacted with concern to the arrest of HDP lawmakers on Friday. The HDP leaders and lawmakers face allegations of supporting the PKK in its activities in southeastern Turkey.