dictator

They say former members of the dictator's regime were being targeted with unlawful killings, kidnappings and torture when Mas'ud was abducted from his home by armed men the following year.

It was a savvy move, copied by monarchs and dictators across the world ever since.

Five years later it was one of the largest firms in Yugoslavia and on a collision course with Marshal Tito, country's communist dictator.

As counterintuitive as it may seem, political science shows that would-be dictators need strong public support, especially early in the regimes.

This was not the work of a lone assassin, the dictator declared; a vast, shadowy opposition conspiracy was responsible.