United Refugee Organization

There are more than 70 countries ruled by dictators who exercise arbitrary authority over their citizens and who cannot be removed from power through legal means. These tyrants suppress the freedoms of speech and religion, and the right to a fair trial. Some also commit torture, execute opponents and starve their own people.

 PARADE’s annual list is drawn in part on reports from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders and the U.S. State Department. Notably, there are two leaders who did not make this year’s list: Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan, No. 8 last year, died in December; and Fidel Castro, No. 15, relinquished power in Cuba to his brother Raul on July 31. Among the newcomers are Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Vladimir Putin of Russia. Some who moved up in rank are Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei, Hu Jintao of China, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and Bashar al-Assad of Syria. But by no means does this indicate that those whom they passed showed improvements.

1) Omar al-Bashir, Sudan 2) Kim Jong-il, North Korea 3) Sayyid Ali KhamEnei, Iran 4) Hu Jintao, China 5) King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia 6) Than Shwe, Burma (Myanmar) 7) Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan 9) Muammar al-Qaddafi, Libya 10) Bashar al-Assad, Syria 11) Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Equatorial Guinea 12) King Mswati III, Swaziland 13) Isayas Afewerki, Eritrea 14) Aleksandr Lukashenko, Belarus 15) Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan 16) Choummaly Sayasone, Laos 17) Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia 1 Hosni Mubarak, Egypt 19) Paul Biya, Cameroon 20) Vladimir Putin, Russia

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