Tunisia on the way to Islamic rule: Iran president

Tunisians are on the path to establishing Islamic rule in their country after having toppled a Western-backed dictator, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday.

"It is very clear that the nation of Tunisia rose up against a Western-backed dictator using Islamic, humane, monotheistic and justice-seeking slogans," he told a cheering crowd in the central city of Yazd.

"In one word, the Tunisians are after establishing Islamic law and rules," the hardliner said in a speech broadcast live on state television.

Ahmadinejad's remarks come after 228 lawmakers in the 290-member Iranian parliament voiced their support on Tuesday for what they termed the "revolutionary movement" of the Tunisian people.

"The parliament of the great Iranian nation strongly supports the revolutionary movement of the brave Tunisian people ... and wishes success to them," the MPs said in a signed statement.

Weeks of turmoil in the Arab state of North Africa forced president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to flee abroad last week after 23 years in power and left scores of people dead.

The revolt was sparked by the suicide of a university graduate prevented by police from selling fruit and vegetables to make a living.

The parliament of the great Iranian nation strongly supports the revolutionary movement of the brave Tunisian people ... and wishes success to them

Iranian MPs\\\\\\\' signed statement

Syria’s opposition

Opponents of Syria's autocratic leader said on Tuesday that the overthrow of dictatorship in Tunisia undermines claims by Arab governments that repression is the only alternative to either chaos or extreme Islamist rule.

"The uprising of the Tunisian people has proved that peaceful democratic change is possible, and that the line these dictatorial regimes peddle about chaos or fundamentalism does not wash," an opposition group, The Damascus Declaration, said in a statement, which was sent to Reuters.

It contrasted the limited bloodshed in Tunis and efforts to form a national unity government with the chaos that followed the U.S. overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 2003 and the violent Islamist challenges which many Arab states, including Syria, highlight when justifying hardline security policies.

The Damascus Declaration is a rights movement named after a document signed in 2005 by Syrian opposition figures, including Riad al-Turk, who spent more than 17 years in solitary confinement under late President Hafez al-Assad, whose son Bashar al-Assad succeeded him a decade ago.

"The Tunisian uprising is an opportunity to break the barrier of fear overwhelming the peoples under repression," the group said.

The uprising of the Tunisian people has proved that peaceful democratic change is possible, and that the line these dictatorial regimes peddle about chaos or fundamentalism does not wash

Syria\\\\\\\'s opposition group

"The Syrian people deserve freedom just like Tunis.

"We are confident they'll march on the road to freedom and democracy."

The Damascus Declaration demands the lifting of bans on freedom of speech and assembly and the abolition of emergency law, under which Syria has been governed since 1963 when the ruling Baath Party took power and banned all opposition.

The movement includes liberals, Islamists and ethnic minority Kurdish political groups. Among its members is writer Akram al-Bunni, who was arrested in the 1980s during his final year in medical school and jailed for 17 years.

Bunni and 11 other figures in the Damascus Declaration were arrested in 2006 and sentenced to two and half years on charges of "for weakening national moral."

The weeks of protests over poverty and unemployment which forced Ben Ali out prompted speculation across the Arab world that other repressive governments might also face unrest.

Tunisia on Monday unveiled a new government which promised unprecedented freedom in the once tightly-controlled country and said it would prepare to hold presidential and parliamentary elections within six months.

But hundreds of Tunisians have rallied against their new government, as the leadership tries to defuse public anger over economic hardships and Ben Ali's former ruling party's continued hold on power.

The tumultuous events in Tunisia -- dubbed the "Jasmine Revolution" -- have inspired dissidents across the Arab world and sparked protests in various other Arab countries, including Algeria, Yemen, Egypt, and Jordan.

The Syrian people deserve freedom just like Tunis

Syria\\\\\\\'s opposition group