ISTANBUL (Reuters) -A Turkish court has issued another formal arrest order for Istanbul’s jailed mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on suspicion of “political espionage”, state-owned Anadolu news agency said on Monday, stepping up a long-running opposition crackdown.

Imamoglu, a key rival of President Tayyip Erdogan, who has been in jail since March pending trial on separate corruption charges, received a fresh jail sentence in July for insulting and threatening the chief Istanbul prosecutor.

Imamoglu denies all charges against him.

He denied the latest charge in court on Sunday and in a statement from prison on Friday.

“Such a slander, lie and conspiracy wouldn’t even cross the devil’s mind!” he said on X. “We are facing a shameful indecency that can’t be described with words.”

Anadolu said an Ist

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