Tyrant of the year 2025: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

9 Dec 2025 | Europe and Central Asia, Turkey, Tyrant of the Year

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been on the path to authoritarianism since he first came to power more than 20 years ago, but even by his standards 2025 has been a particularly repressive year. In March, Erdoğan had Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, the opposition frontrunner for the next presidential election, arrested and jailed in what has been described as a blatantly politically motivated attack.

The Turkish leader is no stranger to such authoritarian tactics, having replaced several elected mayors from opposition parties with government-appointed ones. He’s also targeted activists, journalists and politicians who criticised him with contentious court cases. In the last year, more than 500 people, including 17 mayors, have been detained in opposition-run municipalities around Turkey, but İmamoğlu’s arrest was a major escalation which led to hundreds of thousands of protesters lining the streets of Turkey to condemn the state’s oppressive actions. And what of Erdoğan's response to the widescale protests? It’s been painfully cliched. He labelled the demonstrations “street terrorism”, banned entire major cities from hosting them and arrested thousands, including an AFP photojournalist. He even managed to anger Elon Musk after his government ordered the blocking of over 100 critical accounts.  

İmamoğlu remains in jail. Last month Turkish prosecutors charged him with 142 offences that could amount to up to 2,430 years behind bars if he is found guilty. His real crime? Running against Erdoğan.

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The closing date is Monday 5 January 2026.

To view the other contenders for Tyrant of the Year, click here.

Tyrant of the year 2025: Vladimir Putin

9 Dec 2025 | Europe and Central Asia, Russia, Tyrant of the Year

Russia’s “Father of the Nation” Vladimir Putin is overseeing a predictably grim 2025. He continues killing innocent Ukrainians and sending Russian soldiers to their deaths to sustain the ex-KGB agent’s fantasy of conquering Ukraine. He continues to punish anyone inside Russia who dares to challenge the government line, including a street singer who performed songs against the war. Independent journalists remain silenced and opposition leaders languish in prison on charges so absurd they barely pretend to be legal. According to a recent report by Human Rights Watch, (itself designated an “undesirable organisation” in Russia this year alongside organisations like RSF and Amnesty International), the number of political prisoners has climbed into the thousands. But there’s a twist: even the pro-war movement isn’t safe under Putin, who this year turned on several big Kremlin supporters who he designated “foreign agents” following disagreements over the shape of the war.  

Repression is deeply ingrained in public life and is starting younger and younger. “Children are happiness” Putin likes to say, but does happiness look like a forced daily diet of militarised propaganda, which tells kids that dying in war is noble and dissent is dangerous? Does happiness look like the banning of popular apps, recent ones including Snapchat and Roblox? Does happiness look like hundreds of facilities supporting the transfer and “re-education” of Ukrainian children kidnapped from occupied territories, as a 2025 Yale investigation identified?

Putin is no contender for Father of the Year, but for 2025’s Tyrant of the Year? Absolutely.

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The closing date is Monday 5 January 2026.

To view the other contenders for Tyrant of the Year, click here.

Tyrant of the year 2025: Narendra Modi

9 Dec 2025 | Asia and Pacific, India, Tyrant of the Year

India has been called the world’s largest democracy but under Narendra Modi that label might need an update. Threats to free speech in India have intensified dramatically. 

Whether through internet shutdowns and blocks, the weaponisation of the heckler’s veto which allows groups and individuals - including members of the far-right Hindutva movement - to secure the censorship of content they disagree with, or plans to expand regulatory powers to criminalise speech.

In the aftermath of April’s deadly Pahalgam attack in Indian administered Kashmir in which 26 people, mostly tourists were killed, Modi’s government blocked 16 Pakistani YouTube channels and restricted access to the social media pages of prominent Pakistani news organisations. The government also also blocked the respected Indian news website, The Wire. But Modi was not content just with attacking the media. According to Assam’s Chief Minister, as of 7 June, 90 people were arrested as part of a crackdown on "anti-national and communal elements", which included arrests based on social media content that was deemed to be “pro-Pakistan”. This was not limited to one state. The singer Neha Singh Rathore and social media influencer Dr Medusa were both booked on charges, including sedition, for social media comments made in relation to the government’s response to the attacks.

Modi’s government has long seen the control of online speech as a guarantor of political dominance, both for their party and their belief in India as a Hindu nation. So by that measure 2025 has been a great success. Yes, the arrests related to the Pahalgam attacks have slowed, but the foundations for all speech remain fragile.

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The closing date is Monday 5 January 2026.

To view the other contenders for Tyrant of the Year, click here.

Tyrant of the year 2025: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

9 Dec 2025 | Iran, Middle East and North Africa, Tyrant of the Year

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, has been the country’s leader for 36 years, so tyranny is in his blood. His years of perfecting autocracy were on full display following the death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini at the hands of the “morality police” in 2022 and the Woman, Life, Freedom protests that followed. His regime enforced a sharp crackdown on his opponents, many of whom were rounded up and jailed. But it’s not just views on feminism that anger the Ayatollah. This year thousands of lawyers, journalists and human rights defenders who spoke up during the Israel-Iran conflict were also arrested.

Detention though is far from the worst attack on his opponents. In November, the National Council of Resistance of Iran reported at least 311 executions in a single month and more than 1,700 for the year. This is the highest figure since the 1988 massacre, when between 2,800 and 5,000 were executed.

Khamenei’s attacks aren’t limited to Iran. In the last year, the intimidation of overseas journalists and dissidents have continued at pace, and he remains one of the leading figures behind the growing trend of transnational repression.

On 3 December Khamenei tweeted: “In Islam, the dignity of women and respecting women are some of the most essential elements.” There was no irony to his words and this was underlined just five days later when the organisers of a marathon were arrested for allowing women to run without hijab. There remains no hope of justice for the many currently imprisoned.

To cast your vote, click on your chosen tyrant's face below and then click on the Vote button. And if you want the winner delivered straight to you in early January, sign up to our newsletter – you’ll then be the first to know who claims the crown no one wants.

The closing date is Monday 5 January 2026.

To view the other contenders for Tyrant of the Year, click here.

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