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Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Saudi jihadi rehab program seeks less to give jihadis different view of Islam than to reinforce primacy of Saudi state

Feb 21, 2016 7:58 pm By Robert Spencer

This much-touted program is actually a dismal failure:”These programs may also fail to keep determined extremists from re-engaging in terrorism following their release. When IS claimed credit for a suicide bombing last October at an Ismaili mosque in the southern Saudi city of Najran that killed two and injured 25, the bomber was described in mainstream accounts as a graduate of the Mohammed bin Nayef Center. In September 2014, Saudi police arrested 88 suspected al Qaeda operatives; 59 of them, according to a CBS News report, had gone through the reform regimen before their release. Several months later, 47 of the 77 individuals detained for their alleged connection to an Islamic State attack on a Saudi Shiite mosque were found to be former inmates of the center…”

None of this is surprising, since the Saudis actually hold and propagate the same version of Islam as that which is held by al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

Saudi jihad rehab

“The Problem With Saudi Arabia’s ‘Terrorist’ Re-education,” by David Andrew Weinberg, Eric Eikenberry and James Suzano, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, February 16, 2016:

…On Dec. 9, 2015, progressive Saudis celebrated the release of Mohammed al-Bajadi, a highly regarded human rights activist who had been imprisoned since 2011. Bajadi co-founded the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), which documented human rights abuses while advocating for significant governing reforms, including the establishment of a constitutional monarchy, before its dissolution by court order in March 2013. Authorities imprisoned him on a number of charges, among them founding an unlicensed organization and defaming Saudi Arabia’s reputation. Amnesty International has labeled him a “prisoner of conscience.” But other well-sourced Saudis claimed that his path to release wasn’t quite so direct. Multiple members of the Saudi reformist community, and Al-Bahrain Al-Youm, a Gulf-focused news agency, wrote that he underwent a pre-release stay in al-munasiha, or “counseling.” Saudi human rights defenders told us that Bajadi received this counseling at the Mohammed bin Nayef Center for Counseling and Care, the kingdom’s showcase terrorist rehabilitation center.

Established in 2006, the center is a feather in the cap for its namesake, the current crown prince and interior minister, who parlayed a campaign to root out domestic al Qaeda cells in the mid-2000s into favored access to the Obama administration. Under the guidance of the Interior Ministry, religious militants and their sympathizers at the center receive ideological counseling in the form of direct re-education from — and structured debate with — approved Islamic scholars. Additionally, the center provides prisoners with psychological care and vocational training, with the aim of eventually reintegrating the onetime extremists into Saudi society.

Saudi officials use the center as a PR tool to burnish the kingdom’s counterterrorism credentials, though the program has occasionally met with skepticism. A 2009 piece in Time described it as the “Betty Ford Center for terrorists,” and in 2015 the New York Post portrayed its appointments as “cushy.”

A more substantive critique, articulated in a 2010 Rand report, noted that the program is heavy on the “ideology” and light on the “re-education.” The program’s counselors reportedly seek less to disabuse imprisoned militants of their hard-line views than to reinforce the primacy of the Saudi state in determining the appropriate use of violence.

These programs may also fail to keep determined extremists from re-engaging in terrorism following their release. When IS claimed credit for a suicide bombing last October at an Ismaili mosque in the southern Saudi city of Najran that killed two and injured 25, the bomber was described in mainstream accounts as a graduate of the Mohammed bin Nayef Center. In September 2014, Saudi police arrested 88 suspected al Qaeda operatives; 59 of them, according to a CBS News report, had gone through the reform regimen before their release. Several months later, 47 of the 77 individuals detained for their alleged connection to an Islamic State attack on a Saudi Shiite mosque were found to be former inmates of the center, according to a member of Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council. The figures can be read as an embarrassing admission by the government and a worrying indictment of the center’s methods and effectiveness….

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Filed Under: Featured, Saudi Arabia Tagged With: Mohammed bin Nayef Center for Counseling and Care


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Comments

  1. Jay Boo says

    Feb 21, 2016 at 8:01 pm

    Deprograming a Muslim ???

    • mortimer says

      Feb 21, 2016 at 8:12 pm

      Far from deprogramming. This is about the ‘direction’ of Islam versus the CONTENT of Islam.

      Al Qaeda and ISIS believe that the Saudi monarchy is corrupt and not strict enough in establishing Sharia. Both terrorist groups wish to assassinate the entire House of Saud.

      The Saudis are trying to get these terrorists to drop the assassination part and collaborate with the House of Saud to TAKE OVER THE WORLD.

      There is no deprogramming in this whatsoever. The Wahhabism or Salafism of all these groups is virtually indistinguishable.

      • mortimer says

        Feb 21, 2016 at 8:15 pm

        The House of Saud created and then exported Wahhabist Salafism to all Islamic countries and now their chickens are coming home to KSA to roost.

        Al Qaeda and ISIS will not surrender to KSA, though it is obvious, they have a temporary truce between them.

        The Saudis are doing nothing to fight ISIS or Al Qaeda.

    • Angemon says

      Feb 21, 2016 at 9:19 pm

      Jay Boo posted:

      “Deprograming a Muslim ???”

      Nah, just pointing the exploding wind-up toys in another direction.

    • خَليفة says

      Feb 21, 2016 at 11:19 pm

      In general I think people should be given a second chance and that many criminal types can be reformed. BUT I also believe that there are deranged and disturbed people, like so many of these jihadis, that will always be a danger to humanity and should be eliminated.

  2. Nimrod says

    Feb 21, 2016 at 8:45 pm

    So basically they’re trying to do what I had posted on another article: the only thing you can do with Muslims, since Islam can’t be changed, is try to convince them that the Caliph is someone else or that there is no Caliph.

    Sounds like the Saudis understand Islam pretty well. Much better than John Kerry does.

    It’s a bit pointless to do this in a reeducation center though since whoever wins the contest of carrying out the most hudud punishments, wages the most savage jihad, and beheads the most infidels is always going to seem like the most legitimate Caliph. I don’t think the jihadis are really all that impressed with the whole “guardian of the two mosques” thing.

    Islam is the Religion of War and war is what makes a Caliph seem legitimate to Muslim believers.

  3. Kurt says

    Feb 22, 2016 at 2:18 am

    Is this like an A.A. rehab facility with a 12-step anti-jihad program? This has to be the funniest thing I’ve seen in while.

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