Iran's justice minister decreed that no divorce permits would be issued.
And in a drastic action, unprecedented in the five-year-saga of euro zone bank bailouts, the Dutch finance minister decreed: Bondholders like Mr. Zannakis would be wiped out.
Australians will also be banned from visiting a foreign region that the foreign minister decrees a "declared area": one where terrorist groups are fighting.
Before his retirement last year, Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia's long-serving prime minister, decreed that the country should attempt to forge a united "Malaysian nation" by 2020.
Such suspicions soon deepened.Just before the presidential run-off, the SCAF-appointed justice minister decreed that army officers have the right to arrest civilians, in what appeared, in effect, a return to Mr Mubarak's hated emergency laws.
Later that year, however, a deputy prime minister decreed that at least 7 tons of gallium should be handed over to the fuel ministry.
Ultimately, the paperless communications network envisioned by Dr Mahathir is supposed to enable citizens to pay tax, ministers to decree, and civil servants to confer without the felling of a single tree.Dr Mahathir doubtless views Putrajaya as a bold innovation in the field of urban design, a far cry from the chaos of Akmola.
It would be difficult, he said, for ministers to decree how bike lanes should be built: "Ultimately a cycle lane is normally a local facility and there's a limit to how far central government should be telling councils what they do in their own patch.
Requiring hospitals, health units and private clinics to hang an enlarged copy of the Minister's decree forbidding the practice on their walls.
Environment Minister Noel Dempsey decreed a 14-cent fee for each plastic bag used to carry groceries.
