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World's Worst Dictators for 2004
The Mirror. EFL. Hat tip: Damian Penny, Newfoundland's greatest son.Here is a list of [1.] KIM JONG IL Country: North Korea Age: 63 In power: 10 yrs Last year's rank: 1 THE only nation to earn the worst possible score for political rights and civil liberties for 31 straight years. An estimated 150,000 prisoners do forced labour. . . . [2.] THAN SHWE Country: Burma Age: 71 In power: 13 yrs Last year's rank: 5 GENERAL Than is sole leader of Burma's military dictatorship. . . . [3.] HU JINTAO Country: China Age: 61 In power: 2 yrs Last year's rank: Dishonourable mention HU Jintao is Communist Party president and general secretary. China executes more people than the rest of the world put together - Amnesty International estimates 2,500 a year, others say 15,000. The party controls all media and uses 30,000 "internet security agents" to monitor online use. Don't forget the forced abortions and infanticides to enforce the "one child" policy, or the suppression of organized religion and the Falun Gong. [4.] ROBERT MUGABE Country: Zimbabwe Age: 80 In power: 24 yrs Last year's rank: Dishonourable mention Once the darling of the West, . . . and still the darling of the Western Left . . . Robert Mugabe has become increasingly dictatorial. His government has killed or tortured and displaced more than 70,000 people. The Supreme Court has carried out the dictator's strategy of silencing criticism and stamping on human rights, and has just blocked an official report on the massacre of 20,000 civilians. And then there's the famine. [5.] CROWN PRINCE ABDULLAH Country: Saudi Arabia Age: 80 In power: 9 yrs Last year's rank: 2 Abdullah has been acting leader since his half-brother, King Fahd, had a stroke in 1995. The country holds no elections whatsoever. Human Rights Watch has reported "slavery-like conditions" for the 8.8 million foreign workers in the Kingdom, and Saudi women are second-class citizens. [6.] TEODORO OBIANG NGUEMA Country: Equatorial Guinea Age: 61 In power: 25 yrs Last year's rank: 6 Although oil-rich, 60 per cent of the people in this tiny West African nation live on 60p a day. Obiang is believed to have a £500 million fortune and is in "permanent contact with the Almighty", according to state radio. He "can decide to kill without being called to account". Of course, everyone on this list can decide to kill without being called to account. [7.] OMAR AL-BASHIR Country: Sudan Age: 59 In power: 15 yrs Last year's rank: Dishonourable mention Al-Bashir seized power by military force. The country is in the grip of a 20-year civil war that has killed 2 million and made 4 million homeless. Al-Bashir's army routinely bombs civilians and tortures and massacres non-Muslims. He has also been accused of "engineering famine" in the regions that oppose him. [8.] SAPARMURAT NIYAZOV Country: Turkmenistan Age: 64 In power: 14 yrs Last year's rank: Dishonourable mention All government workers must memorize passages of Niyazov's book to keep their jobs. He's banned beards, gold teeth and circuses, renamed months of the year after his mum and created a public holiday to celebrate melons. So he's on the list for comic relief? Last year he cracked down on religious and ethnic minorities. Still think he's overrated as a tyrant. [9.] FIDEL CASTRO Country: Cuba Age: 77 In power: 45 yrs Last year's rank: 9 The world's longest-surviving dictator has in the last few years carried out the biggest round-up of non-violent dissidents in more than a decade. He arrested 75 human-rights activists, journalists and academics, sentencing them to 19 years' jail on average. In the last six months he put a blind lawyer and nine activists on trial. Cuba is a one-party state and Castro runs the courts. Think he should be a few places higher on the list. [10.] KING MSWATI III Country: Swaziland Age: 35 In power: 18 yrs Last year's rank: Not listed Educated in England, he has a reputation for lavish living with a fleet of BMWs, a host of palaces and a love of foreign trips, which contrasts with the plight of Swaziland's 300,000 drought-stricken farmers. So, in other words, he's a Mugabe wannabe. I don't have a lot of respect for the "human rights" NGO industry these days, but they actually seem to have gotten most of it right this time. You'd think Arafat and the Iranian Mullahs should be on the list somewhere, but other than that, it seems pretty much spot-on. The Moonbat Left will no doubt complain that Ariel Sharon and George W. Bush should be on the list somewhere. Posted by: Mike 2004-08-27 |
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