Syrian MP, Tribal Chief Go into Exile

A leading MP and an opposition figure who heads Syria's largest tribe announced they have defected and gone into exile, in interviews broadcast on Monday on Al-Arabiya television.

"I have come to Turkey to activate the opposition. The Syrian revolution is our path. The country's youth are making the greatest sacrifices for a better future," Al-Baqqara tribal chief Nawaf al-Bashir told the satellite channel.

Bashir said he had been coerced to appear on state television in Syria to praise the reforms which President Bashar al-Assad says he has launched.

He was a key supporter of the so-called Damascus Declaration which opposition leaders issued in 2005 to press for reform. He says he has been interrogated by the security services more than 75 times.

MP Imad Ghalioun, a member of parliament's budget committee, said he had chosen Egypt as a base to try to help the opposition achieve "freedom and dignity" for the Syrian people in a future democratic state.