Tyrant's Unlimited

PARADE Magazine has out its lineup of the World's 10 Worst Dictators. They are (in decreasing order of vileness): Omar al-Bashir (Sudan), Kim Jong Il (North Korea), Than Shwe, Burma), Hu Jintao (China), Crown Prince Abdullah (Saudi Arabia), Muammar al-Qaddafi (Libya), Pervez Musharraf (Pakistan), Saparmurat Niyazov (Turkmenistan), Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe), Teodoro Obiang Nguema (Equatorial Guinea). Regarding Kim Jong Il, Parade comments that:

Disloyalty to Kim Jong Il and his late father, Kim Il Sung, is a punishable crime: Offenses include allowing pictures of either leader to gather dust or be torn or folded. The population is divided into “loyalty groups.” One-third belong to the “hostile class.” These people receive the worst jobs and housing and may not live in the capital, Pyongyang. Below the hostiles are the estimated 250,000 held in prison camps, some for crimes allegedly committed by relatives. Executions often are performed in public.