1.   Kenyan law requires that all public rallies be licensed by the government, but the assembly says the law is used exclusively to muzzle the opposition.

2.   Last year, police closed a pirate station that had become a voice for the Jewish settler movement, sparking accusations that officials were trying to muzzle opposition.

3.   Now, after having muzzled the opposition through jailings and destruction of party organizations, the authorities feel they are in control, analysts say.

4.   Human rights groups accuse him of muzzling the opposition.

5.   They say the law was aimed at muzzling the opposition by legalizing only a few television and radio stations owned by pro-Syrian officials.

6.   Karimov has been accused of running a Stalinist state, muzzling the opposition, waging a silent war against Islamists and crushing the independent media.

7.   Opponents of the legislation say the law is aimed at muzzling the opposition by legalizing only a few television and radio stations owned by pro-Syrian officials.

8.   Parliament has called for the presidency to be scrapped, and human rights groups have accused Lukashenko of muzzling the opposition.

9.   The international community has criticized the move fearing that it was a step toward authoritarian rule and a bid to muzzle the opposition.