President Hosni Mubarak
Country: Egypt
Time in power: 1981 to 2011
Mubarak was appointed Vice President of Egypt in 1975, and assumed the presidency on 14 October 1981, following the assassination of President Anwar El Sadat. The length of his presidency made him Egypt's longest-serving ruler since Muhammad Ali Pasha. Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in the Egyptian Air Force, serving as its commander from 1972 to 1975. During demonstrations beginning on 25 January 2011, protesters called for his resignation as president of Egypt. On 1 February 2011, Mubarak announced that he would not seek another term in the 2011 Egyptian presidential election. On 11 February, Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak had resigned as president and transferred authority to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces following 18 days of protests challenging his 30 year rule.
Zine el Abidine Ben Ali
Country: Tunisia
Time in power: 1987-2011
Ben Ali was appointed to lead the tiny nation of Tunisia after another leader was declared unfit to fulfill his presidential duties. Under Ben Ali’s leadership, Tunisia had several controversies, including the high-profile arrest of a journalist and riots over unemployment that led to his ouster. The small country’s uprising is said to have sparked Egyptians to take a stand for their rights.
Country: Egypt
Time in power: 1981 to 2011
Mubarak was appointed Vice President of Egypt in 1975, and assumed the presidency on 14 October 1981, following the assassination of President Anwar El Sadat. The length of his presidency made him Egypt's longest-serving ruler since Muhammad Ali Pasha. Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in the Egyptian Air Force, serving as its commander from 1972 to 1975. During demonstrations beginning on 25 January 2011, protesters called for his resignation as president of Egypt. On 1 February 2011, Mubarak announced that he would not seek another term in the 2011 Egyptian presidential election. On 11 February, Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak had resigned as president and transferred authority to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces following 18 days of protests challenging his 30 year rule.
Zine el Abidine Ben Ali
Country: Tunisia
Time in power: 1987-2011
Ben Ali was appointed to lead the tiny nation of Tunisia after another leader was declared unfit to fulfill his presidential duties. Under Ben Ali’s leadership, Tunisia had several controversies, including the high-profile arrest of a journalist and riots over unemployment that led to his ouster. The small country’s uprising is said to have sparked Egyptians to take a stand for their rights.
Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Country: Iran
Time in power: 1941-1979
Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s ouster was led by the Iranian Revolution. His reign was often criticized for his relationship with the United States (which president allowed him to get surgical treatment in the US?) and economic shortages. The overthrow allowed an infamous dictator to return to Iran after years in exile.
Saddam Hussein
Country: Iraq
Time in power: 1979-2003
Hussein served as president during several crises, including the Iran-Iraq war and the Persian Gulf War. His reign came to an end 2003 after George W. Bush claimed that Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction. The United States invaded Iraq and Hussein was captured. Three years later, he was executed.
Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh
Country: Iran
Time in power: 1951-53
Mossadegh was overthrown in a rift with Britain. His biggest claim to fame was the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry. A dispute over oil led to protests in 1952 and heightened tensions with Britain. It also fueled other fears.
Jacobo Arbenz Guzman
Country: Guatemala
Time in power: 1951-54
Arbenz was overthrown in the 1954 Guatemalan coup d’etat, which was organized by the CIA as fears of Communism heightened. Arbenz ultimately resigned and the CIA launched another operation to get proof that Guatemala was a rising Soviet state.
Prime Minister Pol Pot
Country: Cambodia
Time in power: 1976-79
Saloth Sar aka Pol Pot, The infamous dictator was responsible for the deaths of nearly 2 million people. The number of deaths led to Cambodia being tainted with a gruesome nickname. His high-profile conflict with a neighboring country ultimately led to his ouster. Pol Pot died under house arrest, but rumors persist about the nature of his death.
Czar Nicholas II
Country: Russia
Time in power: 1894-1917
Czar Nicholas II was overthrown in the February Revolution, although it happened in March. He received a gruesome nickname because of the Khodynka Tragedy and Bloody Sunday. His removal prompted the end of an empire, the beginning of another and the start of a war.
Prime Minister Benito Mussolini
Country: Italy
Time in power: 1922-43
Mussolini is known as one of the fathers of fascism. His official title was not modest. He often had a contentious relationship with another dictator, but later joined forces against Britain and France in World War II. Ironically, it was his former colleagues who overthrew him.
Prime Minister Ion Antonescu
Country: Romania
Time in power: 1940-44
Antonescu created a fascist dictatorship, which also supported the Axis Powers. While he won support for domestic reforms, he was known as the mastermind behind a brutal massacre. He was overthrown in 1944 and later executed for war crimes.
President Idi Amin
Country: Uganda
Time in power: 1971-79
Amin was known as one of the most brutal dictators that Africa has ever seen.The number of people killed under his rule ranges from 100,000 to 500,000. The arrogant leader dubbed himself this royal nickname (a movie about his life used that title). On April 11, 1979, he fled the Ugandan capital as liberation forces moved in. He died in 2003 in Saudi Arabia.
President Slobodan Milosevic
Country: Yugoslavia
Time in power: 1997-2000
Milosevic, who earned this dubious honor, resigned after demonstrators protested the 2000 presidential election. Shortly after his resignation, he was arrested for embezzlement and later ordered to stand trial for war crimes. The trial ended without a verdict.
Joseph "Erap" Estrada
Country: Philippines
Time in power: 1998 - 2001
Estrada was the only president to have resigned from office and was the first person in the Post-EDSA era to be elected both to the presidency and vice-presidency. Estrada was elected President in 1998 with a wide margin of votes separating him from the other challengers, and was sworn into the presidency on June 30, 1998. In 2000 he declared an "all-out-war" against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and captured its headquarters and other camps. However, allegations of corruption spawned an impeachment trial in the Senate, and in 2001 Estrada was ousted from a power grab after former Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. allowed the prosecution to walk out of the impeachment court when the Senator Judges voted no in the opening of the second envelope which is not part of the impeachment complaint. In 2007, he was sentenced by the special division of the Sandiganbayan to reclusion perpetua for plunder.
For more information about these Presidents click this link Ousted Regimes .
