A state prosecutor in Turkey is demanding life imprisonment for writer Asli Erdogan who was arrested this year on terrorism charges for her work with a Kurdish newspaper, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported Thursday.

The prosecutor is seeking similar measures against eight others on similar allegations.

Erdogan, who has complained about health concerns behind bars, worked with Ozgur Gundem, a Kurdish daily shuttered by the government in August for alleged links to the armed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

She was born in 1967 and is a human rights activists, novelist and columnist.

Free speech groups have sharply condemned the arrest and called for Erdogan to be freed along with demands for the release of some 20 other colleagues at the paper.

Turkey has shut some 165 media outlets in recent months, since a coup attempt. Some were affiliated with the Gulen movement, blamed for the coup attempt. Many others are pro-Kurdish. More than 100 journalists are in jail in the country.

Turkey has also arrested 10 members of parliament from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), accused of terrorism related charges.

The legislators all deny the allegations and say they are being targeted for being opposition members critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.