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Ayatollah Alikhamenei
Country: Iran
Came to Power: 1989
Iran's pompous president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, may grab the headlines, but it's Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran's top cleric, who pulls his strings. And everybody else's. Under this pious tyrant's rule, dissidents, journalists, and bloggers are persecuted, imprisoned, and sometimes tortured for criticizing the government. The criminal justice system is known to mete out medieval punishments, including stoning, flogging, and amputation. Executions, which are not limited to homicide cases, have risen 300% since 2005, and Iran now leads the world in the execution of juveniles. Kim Jong-il
Country: North Korea
Came to Power: 1994
The teased hair, the jumpsuits, the platform shoes—do they come any weirder than Kim Jong-il? While the North Korean "Dear Leader" cuts a comic figure, that's the only funny thing about life north of the DMZ. In the 1990s, one million North Koreans perished in a famine caused in part by failed agricultural policies. While people starved, the military was thriving financially, selling weapons around the world. Kim is responsible for a massive labor camp system filled with 200,000 political prisoners, including children. Prisoners die of starvation, beatings, and exposure to extreme cold. Cruel and ruthless, Kim has cozied up to Iran and Syria, and what's worse, he has nuclear weapons.
Bashar Al-Asad
Country: Syria
Came to Power: 2001
Al-Asad's regime bears all the hallmarks of a typical police state: intolerance of dissent, imprisonment, and the occasional torture of opponents. His justification? The country is in a state of emergency. Then again, it's been in a state of emergency for 45 years. Al-Asad's regime has helped destabilize Lebanon and undermine the Arab-Israeli peace process. Recent signs suggest he may be taking a more cooperative course. But as Martin Indyk of the Brookings Institution noted last year, "Just about every leader who has attempted to deal with Al-Asad has come away frustrated."
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