4. King Abdullah - Saudi Arabia
King Abdullah took up de facto power as ruler of Saudi Arabia when his brother King Fahd took a stroke in 1995. in 2005, Abdullah formally became de jure leader and King of Saudi Arabia. He is the sixth King of Saudi Arabia and has an immense personal fortune that makes him the world's third wealthiest ruler. Saudi Arabia is a very strict Muslim country which faithfully stands by Islam's more extreme diktats. Life for women in Saudi Arabia is very restricted and frankly hellish, however because of the Arab Spring, concessions are being made such as allowing female athletes to participate in international sporting events. The authorities have made domestic violence an offence and have conceded some ability of women to vote. As I said, due to the Arab Spring Abdullah has made many reforms - paying for thousands of young Saudi men and women to study oversees in the finest universities. He has reformed the judiciary and made it much tougher for the relevant religious bodies to issue a fatwah. Despite these reforms, Saudi Arabia remains a repressive and often downright barbaric regime. There is a huge force of religious police - the 'mutaween' - which enforce the ultra strict laws of Saudi Arabia's interpretation of Islam. The 'mutaween' are very powerful in Saudi society. Furthermore, the citizens of Saudi Arabia live under a strict Wahhabist interpretation of Sharia law that orders amputation of hand for theft, flogging for drunkenness, beheading in public for committing many crimes. Abdullah has also been criticised for his zero acceptance policy on other religions and sects of Islam - for example, giving grief to Shiite pilgrims on the Hajj. However the King met with Pope Benedict and called for wider dialogue between Islam, Judaism and Christianity. It is telling that he did not include Eastern religions. Saudi Arabia are terrible brown nosers to the USA. There has been many state visits and when Obama was elected, King Abdullah was ecstatic. He has a bee in his bonnet about Syria and Iran. Saudi Arabia is the chief funding source for the rebels in Syria. Abdullah wants the US to go to war with Iran - scared that they are doing sneaky nuclear bomb manoeuvres and establishing Hamas/Hezbollah type groups all over Africa. This is quite ironic given that Saudi Arabia produced the world's most famous and feared terrorist - Osama Bin Laden. So overall, Abdullah is an improvement over his predecessors and he seems willing to enact positive reforms. However, Saudi Arabia remains a tightly controlled entity with major issues of non compliance with international human rights law, and the citizens live in a state which enforces a particularly harsh version of Islam.