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| align=center|[[Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr]] || align=center|[[Iraq]] || align=center|1968–1979 ||<small> Gained power in a coup; never elected.</small>

| align=center|[[Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr]] || align=center|[[Iraq]] || align=center|1968–1979 ||<small> Gained power in a coup; never elected.</small>

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| align=center|[[Hafez al-Assad]] || align=center|[[Syria]] || align=center|1970–2000 ||<small>Gained power in a coup; totalitarian;{{cn}} cult of personality; oversaw [[Hama massacre]] yielding twenty to forty thousand dead (see [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=M1ARTM0012197]).</small>

| align=center|[[Hafez al-Assad]] || align=center|[[Syria]] || align=center|1970–2000 ||<small>Gained power in a coup; totalitarian;{{fact}} cult of personality; oversaw [[Hama massacre]] yielding twenty to forty thousand dead (see [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=M1ARTM0012197]).</small>

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| align=center|[[Ruhollah Khomeini]] || align=center|[[Iran]] || align=center|1979–1989 || <small> As [[Supreme Leader of Iran|Supreme Leader]], held ultimate and uncontested authority over all government matters under the principle of [[Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists|Guardianship]].  Created the extra-constitutional [[Special Clerical Court]] system in 1987, accountable only to the Supreme Leader and used principally for suppression of political dissent. Instituted routine torture, beheadings for children.</small>

| align=center|[[Ruhollah Khomeini]] || align=center|[[Iran]] || align=center|1979–1989 || <small> As [[Supreme Leader of Iran|Supreme Leader]], held ultimate and uncontested authority over all government matters under the principle of [[Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists|Guardianship]].  Created the extra-constitutional [[Special Clerical Court]] system in 1987, accountable only to the Supreme Leader and used principally for suppression of political dissent. Instituted routine torture, beheadings for children.</small>