Selma Irmak, Faysal Sariyildiz and Kemal Aktas, accused of being members pf the urban wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) won their parliamentary seats in June 12 elections as independent candidates from the mainly Kurdish southeast Anatolia.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, took up arms in southeast Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 45,000 lives.

The court rejected the applications on the grounds that terror-related charges fall out of the scope of legislative immunity, Anatolia reported.

Earlier this week judges rejected similar pleas for two intellectuals and a retired general, who were elected to parliament from jail on the ticket of two main opposition parties.

Journalist Mustafa Balbay, academic Mehmet Haberal and retired general Engin Alan are in jail, accused of involvement in alleged plots to destabilise and overthrow the Islamist-rooted government.

A total of nine people were elected to parliament from prison, while Hatip Dicle, a prominent Kurdish activist among them had already been stripped of his seat over a recently upheld terror-related conviction.

The court also rejected Saturday his plea for release.

Turkey's new parliament is already braced for a tense opening next week after some 30 Kurdish lawmakers announced Thursday they would boycott the legislature in protest at the controversial ruling stripping of Dicle of his seat.