It has been called the Betty Ford clinic for jihadists and within minutes of arriving at the Care Rehabilitation Centre on the outskirts of Riyadh, you can see why. The small complex, where the Saudi Arabian government is exploring a new way of reforming its wayward radicals, feels more like an exclusive boarding school than a Saudi jail.
Inmates have access to swimming pools, table tennis and PlayStations. In the evenings, guards and prisoners play football. An air-conditioned tent sits adjacent to the sports field, serving as a dining hall and common room where the prisoners are served rice and lamb with fresh fruit.
In return for this privileged treatment, the prisoners – Islamic extremists, some of whom are convicted murderers – are obliged to attend lessons based around Islamic law and the jurisprudence of jihad. A team of psychologists teaches detainees how they should manage their emotions, particularly when reacting to world events.
The Saudi government insists all this is necessary to promote genuine rehabilitation and foster a meaningful relationship with the jihadists. But in the easy-going atmosphere of the “resort” – nobody calls it a prison – where inmates are referred to as “beneficiaries”, it is easy to forget the seriousness of some of their crimes.
The centre is divided into six areas, four of which hold Saudi nationals who fought (or tried to) in Iraq. The other two hold returnees from Guantanamo Bay.
The government has realized that the use of force alone will not contain Al-Qaeda. It has created an ideological security unit that coordinates the kingdom’s efforts in the war of ideas against its native jihadists. Those arrested in connection with terrorism are routinely subjected to attempts to reform their thinking. Hundreds of men have passed through the Saudi program, which has been viewed as a model for similar efforts elsewhere.
Since the program started in 2004, Nine graduates, including some who had been imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, have been arrested for rejoining terrorist groups .
The Saudi Interior Ministry acknowledged the arrests after it emerged last week that two other graduates had joined the Yemeni branch of al-Qaeda. Both had been released from Guantanamo, in Cuba, in 2007, and one is suspected of having helped plan a deadly attack in Yemen last year.
Sources: Times Online & Sydney Morning Herald - filed under Weird World News
