(Some of) the world's infamous dictators… and how they met their violent ends

By TED THORNHILL and NICK ENOCH at dailymail.co.uk

Cut down in the cross-fire between loyalists and rebels, then flung in a truck and executed in front of a baying mob, Gaddafi’s final moments were as brutal as his crimes.

Covered in blood and dirt, he had pleaded for his life - the answer was a bullet to the temple.

So how does it compare to the grisly deaths of other ruthless dictators such as Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Nicolae Ceausescu and Rafael Trujillo? The circumstances varied, but the cold and bloody nature of their final seconds did not.

SADDAM HUSSEIN, December 30, 2006

Seven coils and pre-boiled to take out any stretch. One thing the U.S. and Iraq do have in common is their style of hangman’s noose.

Saddam Hussein, deposed dictator of Iraq, would have had little time to dwell on such trivia as he stood on the gallows to finally face justice.

The end: Masked men place a noose around Saddam Hussein's neck. Found guilty of crimes against humanity on November 5, 2006, he was woken up on December 30 to be executed

Like Muammar Gaddafi, he too had been found cowering in a grubby bolt-hole, in December 2003.

As one U.S. military commander said, he was ‘caught like a rat’.

Holed up in an underground chamber little bigger than a coffin, he surrendered without a fight when allied troops cornered him in a farm near Tikrit, his birthplace.

Bearded, thin and exhausted, he had been on the run for 250 days.

'Caught like a rat': A bearded Saddam is dragged out of a hole in the ground on farmland near his birthplace of Tikrit

On November 5, 2006, he was finally found guilty of crimes against humanity by the Iraqi Special Tribunal. He was then sentenced to be hanged until dead.

A month later in Baghdad - at 6am on December 30 – he was led to a platform in a concrete chamber by masked men.

Wearing a white shirt and dark overcoat, he refused a hood and shouted ‘God is great’.

The body of Saddam Hussein in an undated image obtained by the Associated Press from an Arab language web site. Seemingly shot on a camera phone, the image appears to show the former Iraqi leader's corpse, with a gaping neck wound

Soldiers taunted him with insults until a judge demanded silence.

As he clutched a copy of the Koran, a noose was placed around his neck – waxed to guarantee a clean slide of the knots. The trapdoor was released and a loud crack was heard when his neck broke.

Left to swing for several minutes, a doctor was called to listen for a heartbeat. Saddam was dead.

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NICOLAE CEAUSESCU, December 25, 1989

So many soldiers volunteered to shoot Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena that a lottery was held to allocate places.

And on Christmas Day, 1989, after a brief show trial in Bucharest, the couple faced the firing squad of elite paratroopers.

With Communism crumbling around him, the self-proclaimed ‘Genius of the Carpathians’ realised that his days as ruler of a brutally oppressive regime were over.

Paraded in front of the cameras: Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife were put on a show trial before their execution

No mercy: The Ceausescus were led away to be shot as they screamed in protest

He had attempted to flee the country with his wife but they were soon captured by rebel soldiers.

Their trial was held in a bare room, where they were treated with cold contempt.

Accused of crimes ranging from illegal gathering of wealth to genocide, he stood frightened in the dock.

Within 90 minutes, he and Elena were sentenced to death.

At first, they were told they would be shot separately, but they begged to die together – and their final wish was granted.

                             Mown down: Ceaucescu and his wife Elena died in a hail of bullets

After the trial they had their hands tied behind their backs with rope, with such force that Elena complained that her arms were breaking.

The soldiers took no pity on them. ‘Nobody will help you now,’ one said.

They were led outside, shouting ‘shame, shame’.

The firing squad were ordered to set their guns to automatic fire.

One paratrooper describes how the first bullets hit Nicolae in the knees, then in his chest, with the next thumping into Elena.

Within seconds they lay dead on the floor, blood flowing along the ground from Elena’s head.

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AND THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY...

JOSEPH STALIN

Joseph Stalin caused the deaths of over 20 million... 

         but he escaped justice

The Russian ruler died in his bed at home near Moscow on March 5, 1953, at the age of 74. He suffered a stroke and had spent four days bedridden before passing away.

Through purges, famine and gulags he is estimated to have been responsible for the deaths of over 20million. Some historians have suggested he could be responsible for over 60million deaths.

The reality - with so few records kept - is no one knows how much damage this dictator truly inflicted on his people.

It is thought that around 14.5million needlessly starved to death and 9.5million were executed in cold blood for opposing his politics.

Stalin was such a ruthless dictator that all of his enemies were murdered. Throughout the 1930s the 'enemies of the people' were murdered - with thousands executed. The purges weakened the army heading into World War II.

The murder of Sergey Kirov, Stalin's rival, in 1934 was the pretext for the fierce repression of Stalin's enemies.

As he grew old, Stalin became increasingly paranoid but he was never himself the victim of the tough 'justice' he meted out.

NB: Some historians as well as Stalin's own surviving daughter speculate that his doctors may have had a role in speeding up his death by withholding from or denying him critical medication. Similar suspicions have been entertained over Pol Pot's death in a jungle hut in north-western  Cambodia on 15 April 1998 (School of Vice).