A few of the world’s most notorious leaders will be landing in Copenhagen this week as heads of state and government arrive for the Climate Summit – including presidents who resort to violence, threats and electoral fraud to stay in power.

Robert Mugabe
Harrassment of electoral observers in 2002 meant that Robert Mugabe was denied entry into the European Union – and it is only because the Climate Summit is a United Nations event that he is allowed to set foot on Danish soil.

During last year’s presidential election, some 80 political activists died and hundreds disappeared. Mugabe also contravened the electoral law to ensure a victory that no-one recognises.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Iran’s president has done what he could to arouse the wrath of the Western world. He has been accused of cooking the presidential election and coming down hard on protesters. At least 20 people were killed and many put in prison.

The president has also let his anti-Israeli rhetoric be heard. At the United Nations conference Durban II he called Israel “the most evil and oppressive racist regime.”

Islam Karimov
Karimov’s regime in Uzbekistan has the habit of boiling its opponents to death - at least according to the memoirs of Craig Murray, a former British ambassador to Tashkent from 2002 to 2004.

A demonstrable fact is that Karimov has run Uzbekistan ruthlessly since he declared the country independent in 1991. International human rights organisations say that Uzbekistan uses systematic torture and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe says last year’s presidential elections were unfair.

Others
Several other controversial leaders have still not said whether they will attend. These include Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov of Turkmenistan and General Than Shwe of Burma.

(Edited by Julian Isherwood, Politiken.dk, 15/12/2009)