Why It’s Hard to Get Strongmen to Step Down<br />His trial is often cited as one reason President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, who faced a popular uprising during the Arab Spring<br />that has devolved into a protracted civil war, has refused to step down.<br />The popular uprising in his country quickly spread,<br />and when Mr. Qaddafi refused to budge, the protests evolved into a wide-scale civil war that eventually drew international intervention.<br />Hosni Mubarak is another example of a leader who held power for years, stepped down — and ended up on trial.<br />Mr. Mubarak was president of Egypt for 29 years, but faced a popular uprising during the Arab Spring of 2011.<br />He ultimately resigned after international leaders intervened —<br />and promised asylum — during talks between the government and rebel factions to try to end Liberia’s war.<br />But pressure grew for him to be arrested, and he ended up standing trial in an international court for war crimes for his<br />role in neighboring Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war, charged with murder, sexual slavery and using child soldiers.
