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

Syria: Islamic State jihadis getting art therapy in prison

Aug 20, 2019 9:00 am By Robert Spencer

“If I sentence a man to death, I am spreading hate. We want to give people reasons to trust us. If you take revenge, people will be radicalized. But with reconciliation we are sure we can finish the problem.”

Good luck with that, but it’s more likely that many of these jihadis will take their jailors’ kindness for weakness, and will respond with contempt and violence.

“Here we have learned that the ISIS ideology was wrong.”

How exactly that was done is not explained. Yet deradicalization programs, upon which the West has placed so much hope, have long been an obvious failure. Such programs are based on the premise that the true teachings of Islam are peaceful, and so all that needs to be done is show the jihadis how they’re misunderstanding the Qur’an and overlooking its teachings of peace, and all will be well. But since the Qur’an and Sunnah are full of commands to make war against and subjugate unbelievers, the idea that jihadis can be “deradicalized” by reference to them is just a myth told to Infidel authorities to lull them into complacency.

Well, let’s see. Deradicalization programs have been implemented elsewhere, notably in Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. Let’s look at how they fared. From the Jihad Watch archives:

Gitmo prisoner reveals: Saudi “deradicalization program” is really a jihad training program

11 ex-Gitmo prisoners flee the Saudi “rehabilitation program” and join up with terrorist groups

Jaw-dropper: 25 former Gitmo detainees “return to militancy” despite Saudi rehab program!

Graduate from Saudi jihadi rehab program killed in Syrian jihad: “killed a large number of Christians before his acceptance by God”

Flight 253 jihadist wasn’t cured by Saudi anti-jihad art therapy

Former Guantanamo detainee now top al-Qaeda ideologue — “He was transferred to Saudi Arabia in 2006 where he was placed in a national rehabilitation project.”

Indonesian government admits that its jihadist rehab program is a failure

Malaysia: Muslim cleric active in deradicalization program promotes hatred of non-Muslims

France’s only jihadi “deradicalization” center is closing — it was voluntary, and it was empty

Australia: Multi-million-dollar taxpayer-funded “deradicalization” helpline “failing to gain traction”

“Captured ISIS fighters get short sentences and art therapy in Syria,” by Liz Sly, Washington Post, August 14, 2019:

QAMISHLI, Syria — At a closely guarded prison in this northeastern Syrian town, former Islamic State fighters make papier-mâché models of birds, flowers and trees while serving sentences that typically run two or three years.

Across the border in Iraq, Islamic State detainees are being held in degrading conditions, subjected to torture and often, when brought to trial, given long sentences or the death penalty, according to human rights groups.

The Syrian Kurdish allies of the United States are attempting a different approach. Their goal, Kurdish officials say, is to rehabilitate and reintegrate many of the Islamic State fighters in their custody, in hopes of deterring a revival of the militant movement.

The Syrian Kurds’ leftist ideology precludes the death penalty, and their few functioning courts issue light sentences for fighters not found to have committed major crimes. Hundreds more militants have simply been freed in deals with local Arab tribes whose cooperation the Kurds need to maintain.

By acting with leniency, the Kurds hope to break the cycle of revenge that has trapped so much of the region in conflict for decades, said Khaled Barjas Ali, a senior judge in the terrorism courts run by the self-proclaimed Kurdish administration in northeastern Syria.

“If I sentence a man to death, I am spreading hate. We want to give people reasons to trust us,” he said. “If you take revenge, people will be radicalized. But with reconciliation we are sure we can finish the problem.”…

The Qamishli facility, originally a Syrian government prison, features a visiting hall with glass booths and intercoms, a barber and a dentist clinic. The air-conditioned cells have three-tier bunk beds and televisions tuned to Arabic soap operas.

Two dozen prisoners were attending an art class, where they were painting papier-mâché palm trees in a room crammed with models, some of them elaborate reconstructions of towns and villages that were apparently made by prisoners.

“Here we have learned that the ISIS ideology was wrong,” said a 36-year-old former fighter, who said he had 10 weeks left to serve, in the presence of prison guards. Many prisoners said they were weeks or months away from release, but a handful had been given 20 years, the maximum, because they had been found guilty of planting bombs or killing people, prison officials said.

In a classroom, most of the few books were by Abdullah Ocalan, the founder of the PKK and the intellectual father of the Syrian Kurdish group that controls northeastern Syria. Prisoners are not forced to embrace his leftist ideology, staff said, but apparently it helps. Some who do are given jobs in the Kurdish-led militia or the administration when they are released, said a prison administration official who asked to be identified by her nom de guerre, Haval (Comrade) Abir.

Most only joined the Islamic State because they needed the salary and are not committed to the militants’ ideology, she said.

“It is our philosophy to give them a chance to start a new life. Maybe a man made a mistake and he joined Daesh, but maybe he’s a victim of his circumstances and he’s repentant,” she said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State.

“Maybe a man made a mistake and he joined Daesh, but maybe he’s a victim of his circumstances and he’s repentant.”

Maybe. But how much are you going to risk on that possibility?

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Filed Under: Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL, Daesh), Kurdistan, Syria Tagged With: Qamlishi prison


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Comments

  1. Antiislamicman says

    Aug 20, 2019 at 9:27 am

    Islam does not allow creativity

  2. mortimer says

    Aug 20, 2019 at 9:29 am

    Robert Spencer correctly identifies the false premise of so-called deradicalization programs, namely, the jihad may be someone whitewashed out of Islam, and that the 164 jihad verses, the Sira, and the many hadiths extolling jihad and the many canonical commentaries and passages in Sharia law commanding jihad are for another time or for another situation and thus not to be implemented in today’s world.

    These ‘whitewash’ arguments are not very convincing after one has read Qutb, Maulana Maududi, Muhammad Faraj, Anwar Awlaki, Brigadier S.K. Khan (Pak Army) and many other theoreticians of jihad.

    The only true way of deradicalizing Muslims is to convince them that Islam lacks a solid intellectual basis, historical basis and ethical basis. The process of deradicalizing Muslims has to be similar to that used by defense attorneys, namely, to introduce substantial doubts into the minds of the jury. Once Muslims have substantial doubts about Islam’s veracity, historicity, coherence and ethics, former jihadists see that Islam is a very flimsy and not-very-credible house of cards that a puff of air can knock over. The internet has many examples of polemicists (such as Christian Prince) who skillfully reveal Islam’s house of cards and then collapse the delusions of Muslims. Governments should be helping to convince Muslims generally that Islam is false and a direct assault on human rights.

    • FYI says

      Aug 20, 2019 at 6:28 pm

      Christian Prince AKA the Arabian Prophet,is an Arabic speaking expert trained in islamic law.

      The greatest nightmare of the Abdools.

      They HATE it when the- Arabic- flaws in the koran are revealed.
      They don’t want the kuffar {or fellow muslims}to find out.

      dawa folk cannot cope with Arabic speakers who KNOW where all the errors in the koran are.
      They don’t like Arabic speaking ex-muslims{now atheists etc} either:as they have seen through the fakery of islam.

      It was thanks to CP that I discovered that allah has…. ONE LEG AND TWO RIGHT HANDS…

    • gravenimage says

      Aug 20, 2019 at 11:46 pm

      Mortimer wrote:

      The only true way of deradicalizing Muslims is to convince them that Islam lacks a solid intellectual basis, historical basis and ethical basis.
      ………………..

      Mortimer, you have never said why pious Jihadists would listen to filthy Infidels, nor why they would care if Islam lacks a rational basis when they reject reason. And devout Muslims certainly don’t accept ethics–there is nothing ethical or moral about Islam.

    • Rufolino says

      Aug 21, 2019 at 4:41 am

      Thankyou Mortimer !

    • Giacomo Latta says

      Aug 21, 2019 at 10:09 am

      ”Islam lacks a solid intellectual basis”
      And the muslims you want to deradicalize have a solid intellectual basis? We must know two different sets of muslims.

  3. mortimer says

    Aug 20, 2019 at 9:31 am

    correction: that jihad may be somehow whitewashed out of Islam

  4. Me says

    Aug 20, 2019 at 9:46 am

    A Militant prison term for a militant violent person. He likes violence… Then give him,a violently hard work agenda. 3 squares & cot FREE… Art class… Can I join this luxury life too,???

  5. James says

    Aug 20, 2019 at 9:51 am

    I think the defenders of Islam have realized that people are afraid of being called racist, and so they try to characterize opposition to Islam as racist. As a result Islamists are treated more mildly than if they did not play the race card. In the Cold War communists did not receive all the consideration and concessions that Islamists receive. Yet Islamism could be more dangerous than Communism, which is the “God that failed.” And I suppose that covering terrorism and totalitarianism with the protective shield of being a “major world religion” adds a further claim on mildness and consideration.

  6. Dan says

    Aug 20, 2019 at 10:30 am

    I just talked to a buddy, Rob in Brooks, Alberta last night.

    The small rural town of about 10,000 people has had a large muslim population for several decades now, and they are PAYING for it big time.

    The other day Rob was at a friend’s to get his cell phone fixed, and the guy showed him a drawer full of UNPAID BILLS by muslim customers.

    They JUST. DON’T. THINK. THEY HAVE. TO PAY.

    So while Rob is there a muslim calls up (Must have been using one of his other government paid for cell phones) and asks if his phone is ready. Rob’s buddy puts it on speaker and says yes.

    The muslim asks if he can just pay $20 now, and pay the rest later.

    By then Rob, has had it. Not exactly p.c. he knows all about taqiyya because I gave him one of Mr. Spenser’s books, the P.I.G.one, and Rob says, “Tell that s.o.b. I need a phone, and I got the cash right here. If he isn’t over here in five minutes to pay in full, I’m buying the damn phone myself.”

    The muslim’s over in five minutes, demanding his phone. Rob says, “You got the money? Where’s the money, cause I got cash right here and I’m taking this phone.”

    The muslim screams about Rob being a racist, islamophobe, cliche yada, yada, and I’m calling the cops and Rob just bellows right back. “I know all about your taqiyya lying to infidels shit so you go back to your little buddies, or your church or your extra wives or what ever and you get the money.”

    By now Rob’s friend is IMPRESSED and, long story short, the creep scuttled off, got the money, and never did call the cops.

    • Rarely says

      Aug 20, 2019 at 10:44 am

      Just another heart-warming “Little Mosque on the Prairie” episode. I wonder how it would play out in Dog River.
      An uphill battle for muslims in Canada’s Bible Belt — especially once the locals wizen up.

    • GreekEmpress says

      Aug 20, 2019 at 12:22 pm

      Dan,
      Great story—thanks for sharing it!!!!

      • Dan says

        Aug 20, 2019 at 7:24 pm

        Darn sure good for troop moral, ain’t it?

  7. Rarely says

    Aug 20, 2019 at 10:47 am

    And if that doesn’t work they can try interpretive dance next.

    • GreekEmpress says

      Aug 20, 2019 at 12:21 pm

      Good one! 😆

  8. Angemon says

    Aug 20, 2019 at 1:09 pm

    Most only joined the Islamic State because they needed the salary and are not committed to the militants’ ideology, she said.

    Assuming that’s actually the case, what will stop them from doing it again? Arts and crafts? Good luck with that…

    • gravenimage says

      Aug 20, 2019 at 11:48 pm

      Good post.

  9. Paul says

    Aug 20, 2019 at 7:58 pm

    Art class. Life models ?
    Nah, Islam forbids the portrayal of the human form.
    Oh well lads back to shaving to shaving your palms .

    Paul

  10. gravenimage says

    Aug 20, 2019 at 11:44 pm

    Syria: Islamic State jihadis getting art therapy in prison
    ……………….

    Just laughable.

  11. Mary C. says

    Aug 21, 2019 at 3:59 am

    I thought art is haram, AKA forbidden, in Islam? Hmm…

  12. AP says

    Aug 21, 2019 at 5:44 am

    Didn’t Mo say something about drinking camel urine, seems like a good place to start. That would surely put some doubt in my mind about the credibility of the faith. Not to mention where the sun sets, dipping a fly with one sanitary wing and one unsanitary, drinking out of well where dead animals and menstrual cloths where dropped. etc. A very long list.

  13. elee says

    Aug 21, 2019 at 1:09 pm

    Islam is thuggery, with its dark underside of terror in which every Muslim is a soldier under orders to execute fatwas per al Lah. There may be possibilities for reform, even for reform that is not self-inspired within the individual soldier. However, do note that it is generally accepted in modern penology that the offender’s physical threat must be neutralised first; before there can be reformation, the offender must believe that his antisocial violence will be met with a stronger force that can capture and imprison him. Granted, there are those who reform from within, but as a strategy for dealing with numerous populations, hoping for spontaneous individual reformations is not a winning strategy. It follows, then, that a billion and a half Muslims must first come to believe that their acts of unlawful violence will be detected and punished. You have to persuade them that they cannot prevail. “Negotiating” with the Taliban, or humoring Ilhan Omar, is just the opposite of this; it demonstrates weakness, a lack of faith in our own capabilities. One does not combat the Mafia with exercises in cerebration and logic. Or from The Ballad of Smackwater Jack: “You can’t talk to a man with a shotgun in his hand.” Neutralise first and then if feasible worry about their hearts and minds.

  14. UNCLE VLADDI says

    Aug 21, 2019 at 5:16 pm

    Re: ” “If you take revenge, people will be radicalized. But with reconciliation we are sure we can finish the problem.”… and “Here we have learned that the ISIS ideology was wrong.” AS BOTH OF THESE STATEMENTS WERE MADE BY MUSLIMS, I CAN HONESTLY STATE THAT I CAN CLEARLY SMELL THE TAQIYYA ON THEIR BREATHS FROM ALL THE WAY OVER HERE IN CANADA! It is impossible to believe that either of them have never bothered to read (or have read to them in mosques) the clear and easy to read and understand tenets of the Qur’an, which prove there is no such thing as “radicalization” and that ISIS was following those very same clear and easy to read and understand Qur’anic tenets to the letter! They’re both LIARS!

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