2011: When dictators fell

Muammar Gaddafi

It was an uprising - the Arab Spring spread like a wildfire across Libya after lighting the flame of liberty in Tunisia and Egypt - that ironically unseated and led to the bloody end of Colonel Muammar el-Gaddafi, the provocative dictator who had bestowed upon himself the title 'Leader of the Revolution'. Gaddafi was born into a poor family in the desert province of Sirte. He staged a bloodless coup in 1969. He had seven children and two successive wives.

The 42 years for which Gaddafi ruled Libya were punctuated with frequent spells of grisly violence. US President Ronald Reagan described him as "the mad dog of the Middle East". Gaddafi was the original globalist terrorist, accused of being instrumental in the downing of a flight over Lockerbie that killed 270 people. As his dominion over Libya crumbled rapidly after the uprising started in February 2011, Gaddafi blamed the rebellion on NATO airstrikes intended to defend civilians from his troops. On October 20, a cornered Gaddafi was found in a tunnel in his hometown Sirte, dragged out, brutalised and executed. Thus ended his reign of fear.

Kim Jong-il

He was last of the great ogres - a relic of the Cold War. As millions of his countrymen perished in gulags that his oppressive regime created, he feasted on caviar, Hennessy cognac, live lobsters airlifted every day to his personal train whenever he travelled which he ate with silver chopsticks and shared champagne with a bevy of female companions of utmost beauty and intelligence. That's Kim Jong-il, the North Korean tyrant who died of a heart attack. He leaves a nuclear state in the hands of his playboy son, Kim Jong-un - now named the 'Great Successor'. Reviled in the West for his cruel rule, US senator John McCain summed up the hatred: "The world is a better place now that Kim Jong-il is no longer in it. The Dear Leader is joining the likes of Gaddafi, bin Laden, Hitler and Stalin in a warm corner of hell."

Hosni Mubarak

For nearly 30 years, Hosni Mubarak was the man Egyptians called their modern pharaoh. Born Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak, he was a former Egyptian politician and military commander. Mubarak, who was appointed the vice-president in 1975, served as the fourth President of Egypt from October 14, 1981, until his death in coma in July. To his credit, Mubarak did not allow the Taliban-style outfits and diktats suffocate the population in the Islamic country.

He was ousted after 18 days of a largely peaceful uprising across Egypt, which had sparked from Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo. After being ousted from power and facing charges of corruption and firing on protesters, the ailing Mubarak was faced with the possibility of the death penalty.

Mubarak's authority was taken over by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which continues to see protests against its exclusive agenda. Earlier this week, the world watched in shock as the images of 10 uniformed men kicking a woman protester after ripping off her abaya were splashed in the media.

Ali Abdullah Saleh

The Yemeni President looks anything but a dictator. But the smiling despot succeeded to rule the tribal country for nearly three decades. Likening the task of ruling Yemen to "dancing on the heads of snakes", Saleh, who was born in Sanaa and received little education, ruled by creating confusion, crisis and sometimes fear among those who might challenge him. Popular anger, stoked by the Arab Spring, boiled over against Saleh whose battle to control the Al Qaeda won him friends in Washington - after the shooting of 45 people by snipers at an opposition rally in Sanaa on March 18. But the dictator held on to power until a dramatic rocket attack on the presidential mosque in Sanaa on June 3 sent him fleeing to Saudi Arabia with grievous wounds. Saleh signed an agreement on November 23 agreeing to transfer power by February 2012 to vice-president Abed Rabbo Mansour al-Hadi in return for immunity from prosecution, ending 33 years of his "snake-dancing" days.

Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali

The Tunisian President was the first of a wave of despots to be swept away by the Jasmine Revolution. When fruit vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself aflame in the impoverished town of Sidi Bouzid in December 2010, little did he know that he was lighting a revolution that would in the coming days topple Ben Ali and, in a chain reaction, other despots in the Arab world. As the unrest spread to boulevards of Tunis, Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia on January 14, bringing the curtains down on 23 years of his velvet-gloved authoritarianism. Ben Ali became President after seizing power in a bloodless coup in 1987. Under him, Tunisia was known as the most European country of North Africa. Liberal social norms, broad gender equality and welcoming Mediterranean beaches. But under the veneer of modernity thrived a repressive regime, in which corruption and police states flourished.

Laurent Gbagbo

Cote d'Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo was forced out of power in April after refusing to relinquish the presidency following his defeat in an election in November 2010.