There are
many dictators around the world who are well-known for their oppressive ruling
of countries, such as Kim Jong Un. But there are many others that operate under
the radar of the world media. They may not have a direct connection to the West
or have a nuclear arsenal at their disposal, but their despotic actions need to
be known. So we’ve decided to put together a list of the worst of the worst.
Six rulers who have been profiled on OZY and are among the cruelest, most
corrupt despots around today. They may hail from countries as different as
Eritrea and Laos, but what they share is a shocking disregard for human rights
and seemingly unfettered power to persecute their own.
Child labor … just a punch line for bad jokes, right? Not to Uzbekistan’s leader, Islam Karimov.
Source: Corbis
Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh has something of a temper.
Source: Sunday Alamba/AP
Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki — president for two and a half decades, voted for by … no one.
Source: James Akena/Corbis
Swaziland’s King Mswati III (far right).
Source: Getty
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Source: Sergei Ilnitsky/Corbis
You may not recognize the name,
but this 77-year-old ruler of Uzbekistan has one of the most abysmal human
rights records in the world today. For 24 years running, the Central Asian
nation near the Caspian Sea has been terrorized by its own leader, who has
killed thousands of unarmed protesters, forced children to work in slavelike
conditions and imprisoned thousands for their religious beliefs. Karimov has
even executed prisoners without a trial, according to our reporting, including
boiling a couple to death. Read more here.
Since
taking over Gambia in a 1994 coup, President Jammeh — or “His Excellency,” as
he prefers to be called — has ruled the country with a lethal mix of fear,
repression and murder. He’s been know to fire into crowds of peaceful
protesters, has imprisoned people for suspected witchcraft and, at one
depressive point, demanded homosexual persons leave the country within 24 hours
or face the possibility of being beheaded. Read more here.
This
69-year-old has been the president of Eritrea since its 1991 independence, and
yet not a single citizen has ever voted for him. And why would they? It’s been
24 years of crushing despotism, where torture is routine, prisons are
overstuffed and everyone from the age of 15 to 70 is forced into indefinite
military service. Not only that, but Afwerki’s administration has reportedly
imprisoned thousands of people based on their political affiliations. Read more here.
This guy
is far from being a noble individual. Mswati has used his concentrated power in
Swaziland, the last absolute monarchy in Africa, to feed his every despotic
need. For one, he is reported to force young women to marry him whenever the
spirit moves him (or about every two years), because polygamy is, no surprise,
legal in Swaziland. He’s also not really interested in democracy or feeding the
poor or finding jobs for the 23 percent of the population that is currently
unemployed. This despot, who became king at 18, has a total of 15 wives and an
indefinite number of luxury cars. He may cut a cartoonish figure, but his
corrupt ways are no laughing matter. Read more here.
Condoleezza
Rice has called him “Europe’s last dictator,” and he’s playing his role to the
hilt. President of Belarus for more than two decades, Lukashenko has ruled the
former Soviet state with an iron fist that would make the Kremlin proud. He
censors the press, sends human rights activists to labor camps and gets rid of
political rivals, either by throwing them in jail or, in the case of his former
prime minister and head of the opposition, making them disappear. Read more here.
The
president of Laos may be 79 years old, wear spectacles and have thinning hair,
but his mild appearance masks a tyrannical personality. Boasting a record of
human rights violations as long as the Mekong River traversing this Southeast
Asian country, Sayasone’s government owns all newspapers, TV stations and radio
stations, effectively snuffing all free expression. And if anyone manages to
rise above these restrictions, they’re bound to be imprisoned or even disappear
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