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A “dictator” is a head of state
who exercises arbitrary authority over the lives of his citizens and who
cannot be removed from power through legal means. The worst commit terrible
human-rights abuses. This present list draws in part on reports by global
human-rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, Freedom House,
Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International. While the three worst
from 2005 have retained their places, two on last year’s list (Muammar
al-Qaddafi of Libya and Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan) have slipped out of
the Top 10—not because their conduct has improved but because other
dictators have gotten worse.
1) Omar al-Bashir, Sudan. Age 62. In power
since 1989. Last year’s rank: 1
Since February 2003, Bashir’s campaign of ethnic and religious
persecution has killed at least 180,000 civilians in Darfur in western Sudan
and driven 2 million people from their homes. The good news is that Bashir’s
army and the Janjaweed militia that he supports have all but stopped burning
down villages in Darfur. The bad news is why they’ve stopped: There
are few villages left to burn. The attacks now are aimed at refugee camps.
While the media have called these actions “a humanitarian tragedy,”
Bashir himself has escaped major condemnation. In 2005, Bashir signed a
peace agreement with the largest rebel group in non-Islamic southern Sudan
and allowed its leader, John Garang, to become the nation’s vice
president. But Garang died in July in a helicopter crash, and Bashir’s
troops still occupy the south.
2) Kim Jong-il, North Korea. Age 63. In
power since 1994. Last year’s rank: 2
While the outside world focuses on Kim Jong-il’s nuclear
weapons program, domestically he runs the world’s most tightly
controlled society. North Korea continues to rank last in the index of press
freedom compiled by Reporters Without Borders, and for the 34th straight
year it earned the worst possible score on political rights and civil
liberties from Freedom House. An estimated 250,000 people are confined in “reeducation
camps.” Malnourishment is widespread: According to the United Nations
World Food Program, the average 7-year-old boy in North Korea is almost 8
inches shorter than a South Korean boy the same age and more than 20 pounds
lighter.
3) Than Shwe, Burma (Myanmar). Age
72. In power since 1992. Last year’s rank: 3
In November 2005, without warning, Than Shwe moved his entire
government from Rangoon (Yangon), the capital for the last 120 years, to
Pyinmana, a remote area 245 miles away. Civil servants were given two days’
notice and are forbidden from resigning. Burma leads the world in the use of
children as soldiers, and the regime is notorious for using forced labor on
construction projects and as porters for the army in war zones. The
long-standing house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel
Peace Prize and Than Shwe’s most feared opponent, recently was
extended for six months. Just to drive near her heavily guarded home is to
risk arrest.
4) Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe. Age 81. In power
since 1980. Last year’s rank: 9
Life in Zimbabwe has gone from bad to worse: It has the world’s
highest inflation rate, 80% unemployment and an HIV/AIDS rate of more than
20%. Life expectancy has declined since 1988 from 62 to 38 years. Farming
has collapsed since 2000, when Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms,
giving most of them to political allies with no background in agriculture.
In 2005, Mugabe launched Operation Murambatsvina (Clean the Filth), the
forcible eviction of some 700,000 people from their homes or businesses—“to
restore order and sanity,” says the government. But locals say the
reason was to forestall demonstrations as the economy deteriorates.
5) Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan. Age 67. In
power since 1990. Last year’s rank: 15
Until 2005, the worst excesses of Karimov’s regime had taken
place in the torture rooms of his prisons. But on May 13, he ordered a mass
killing that could not be concealed. In the city of Andijan, 23 businessmen,
held in prison and awaiting a verdict, were freed by their supporters, who
then held an open meeting in the town square. An estimated 10,000 people
gathered, expecting government officials to come and listen to their
grievances. Instead, Karimov sent the army, which massacred hundreds of men,
women and children. A 2003 law made Karimov and all members of his family
immune from prosecution forever.
6) Hu Jintao, China. Age
63. In power since 2002. Last year’s rank: 4
Although some Chinese have taken advantage of economic liberalization
to become rich, up to 150 million Chinese live on $1 a day or less in this
nation with no minimum wage. Between 250,000 and 300,000 political
dissidents are held in “reeducation-through-labor” camps without
trial. Less than 5% of criminal trials include witnesses, and the conviction
rate is 99.7%. There are no privately owned TV or radio stations. The
government opens and censors mail and monitors phone calls, faxes, e-mails
and text messages. In preparation for the 2008 Olympics, at least 400,000
residents of Beijing have been forcibly evicted from their homes.
7) King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia. Age 82. In
power since 1995. Last year’s rank: 5
Although Abdullah did not become king until 2005, he has ruled Saudi
Arabia since his half-brother, Fahd, suffered a stroke 10 years earlier. In
Saudi Arabia, phone calls are recorded and mobile phones with cameras are
banned. It is illegal for public employees “to engage in dialogue with
local and foreign media.” By law, all Saudi citizens must be Muslims.
According to Amnesty International, police in Saudi Arabia routinely use
torture to extract “confessions.” Saudi women may not appear in
public with a man who isn’t a relative, must cover their bodies and
faces in public and may not drive. The strict suppression of women is not
voluntary, and Saudi women who would like to live a freer life are not
allowed to do so.
8) Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenistan. Age 65.
In power since 1990. Last year’s rank: 8
Niyazov has created the world’s most pervasive personality
cult, and criticism of any of his policies is considered treason. The latest
examples of his government-by-whim include bans on car radios, lip-synching
and playing recorded music on TV or at weddings. Niyazov also has closed all
national parks and shut down rural libraries. He launched an attack on his
nation’s health-care system, firing 15,000 health-care workers and
replacing most of them with untrained military conscripts. He announced the
closing of all hospitals outside the capital and ordered Turkmenistan’s
physicians to give up the Hippocratic Oath and to swear allegiance to him
instead.
9) Seyed Ali Khamane’i, Iran. Age 66.
In power since 1989. Last year’s rank: 18
Over the past four years, the rulers of Iran have undone the reforms
that were emerging in the nation. The hardliners completed this reversal by
winning the parliamentary elections in 2004 —after disqualifying 44%
of the candidates—and with the presidential election of Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad in June 2005. Ultimately, however, the country is run by the
12-man Guardian Council, overseen by the Ayatollah Khamane’i, which
has the right to veto any law that the elected government passes. Khamane’i
has shut down the free press, tortured journalists and ordered the execution
of homosexual males.
10) Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Equatorial
Guinea. Age 63. In power since 1979. Last year’s rank: 10
Obiang took power in this tiny West African nation by overthrowing
his uncle more than 25 years ago. According to a United Nations inspector,
torture “is the normal means of investigation” in Equatorial
Guinea. There is no freedom of speech, and there are no bookstores or
newsstands. The one private radio station is owned by Obiang’s son.
Since major oil reserves were discovered in Equatorial Guinea in 1995,
Obiang has deposited more than $700 million into special accounts in U.S.
banks. Meanwhile, most of his people live on less than $1 a day.
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