The Mohammed bin Naif Center for Counseling and Care, where Jharispoke recently to a US media delegation, is part of Saudi Arabia’scarrot-and-stick approach to tackle both the threat of domesticterrorism and the spread of violent Islamist ideology abroad. Ofthe 19 9/11 hijackers, 15 were Saudis. Now, as more than 5,500 Saudis arrested on suspicions of terroristinvolvement are making their way through the country’s courts, thegovernment is moving to open five more deradicalization facilities.Designed as halfway houses, the centers are meant to”reeducate” ex-jihadis to help them see that their formerways are inconsistent with Islam. The approach is remarkably successful, according to Saudiofficials, who say that only 3 percent of the program’s more than850 graduates have returned to violent extremism. Foreignresearchers, however, say many of the “graduates” werefar from hard-core and never convicted of any crime.
But it’s also expensive. Saudi officials declined to disclosecosts. But more than 300 employees work here, with 200 allegedmilitants in their care. They enjoy buffet meals, classes ineverything from Islam and history to art therapy, and variousfinancial incentives. Upon graduation, the men receive a lump sumof 10,000 rials ($2,665) and about $700 per month for the first sixmonths out.
RELATED: Are terrorists beyond redemption? The government helps the men secure a job, get married, and make anew start. It’s a solution Saudi Arabia appears eager to promotefor a problem it helped to create, first by providing a haven forexiled Arab Islamists in the 1960s and ’70s, and then by giving itsultraconservative religious establishment wide latitude in thedecades that followed. Jhari was a student living away from home when he became interestedin jihad. He saw footage of the Bosnian war and felt impelled tohelp fellow Muslims. He headed first to Chechnya , then Afghanistan. Industrial Keyboard With Trackball
“I was believing that if I die, I’ll be amartyr.” But on his jihadi travels, he found himself trapped in a life hedidn’t deeply believe in. He felt he couldn’t escape because of hispast violations of Saudi law. When the US-led war in Afghanistanbegan, he was swept up in the search for militants and becameprisoner No. 155 at Guant namo, where the US identified him as Khalid Sulaymanjaydh al-Hubayshi . He spent three years there and one more in Saudi jail beforeentering the center. China Wall Mount Kiosk
He says he has now changed his view of jihad. “Jihad is a good thing in Islam,” he said, but it’s oftenmisinterpreted. “If someone fought in my country and [takes]my house, I’m going to fight. This is what we call jihad. China Industrial Mini Keyboard
But if Igo to some area to help one group against another group,” thatwouldn’t be Islamic. Some of the beneficiaries who graduated from the center say theywere never involved in extremism, but are nonetheless grateful fortheir time there. Juma al-Dossari spent 2001-07 in Guant namo after Saudi embassyofficials in Pakistan turned him over to the Americans. He says he had merely beenhelping with a humanitarian project in Kabul, Afghanistan , but lacked the proper documentation and fled to neighboringPakistan; the US government says he fought in Afghanistan, Bosnia , and Chechnya and was present at Tora Bora.
Whatever his background, when Mr. Dossari arrived at the Saudirehabilitation center, he was in dire need physically and mentally,he says. After I came here, I was broke, says Dossari, whoreceived mental health treatment and today works in construction inthe eastern city of Dammam , where he lives with his new wife and three young children, with afourth on the way. I think this center is very much like mercyfrom God to us.
I found here a cure to my wound. Christa Case Bryant traveled to Saudi Arabia on an IRP Gatekeeper Editors triporganized by the International Reporting Project .
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