With the death of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il, Metro is reprinting our roundup of sad dictator photos, originally published April 12, 2011.
Metro’s erstwhile colleague Josh Sanburn pointed us to a delightful picture of former Ivory Coast dictator Laurent Gbagbo on NYTimes.com yesterday, in which the deposed strongman looks like a child whose candy has just been stolen. In honor of Glum Gbagbo, we present 10 of the world’s saddest dictators:
Than Shwe of Burma will thank you politely for your Christmas gift, but
inside he won’t be happy about it. (Photo: Feng Li/AFP/Getty Images)
Someone told Laurent Gbagbo that he couldn’t go outside until he finished his homework. (Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)
Muammar Gaddafi wept when he saw the ending of “Toy Story 3.” (Photo: Jacky Naegelin/AFP/Getty Images)
Belarus’ Alexander Lucashenko never told her he loved her until it was too late. (Photo: Viktor Drachev/AFP/Getty Images)
Kim Jong-Il can’t believe that this is what his job comes down to: Looking at pieces of ceramic. (Photo: KNS/AFP/Getty Images)
Hosni Mubarak is going to vomit if he has to listen to these idiots for five more minutes. (Photo: Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images)
Syria’s Bashar al-Assad is very sorry to hear about your cat. (Photo: Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images)
He has it all, but Robert Mugabe still feels empty inside. (Photo: Desmond Kwande/AFP/Getty Images)
Don’t tell Saddam Hussein that the Boomers didn’t really change anything. (Photo: Getty Images)
Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir can hear the way you guys talk about him. (Photo: Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images)
And now, as a bonus, here’s one happy dictator!
Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov of Turkmenistan loves having fun with his friends! (Photo: Mykola/AFP/Getty Images)
