INSIDE THE DESERT KINDDOM:A novel rehab scheme is playing a key role in the campaign against Islamic militancy
KHALID AL-HUBAYSHI’S journey through Islamic militancy took him from a separatist training camp in the Philippines to a personal meeting with Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, from fighting in the mountains of Tora Bora to a metal cage in Guantánamo Bay.
He returned home to Saudi Arabia in 2005, unsure of how he would pick up the pieces of his life.
Today, the man who was once Guantánamo prisoner No. 155 is happily married and living in Jeddah. “I try to work hard to make up for all the years and opportunities I missed,” he says. “I feel lucky to have gotten back to being a normal guy, and to be back with my family, who suffered a lot because of me.”
Khalid (34) was one of the first graduates of a Saudi government rehabilitation programme that aims to reintegrate those who have fallen prey to jihadist ideology, and make sure they leave their old ways of thinking behind. “The problem is not jihad, it is how you do the jihad,” he says now. “I regret the way I went about it and I regret that I said nothing when I saw things that I knew were wrong.”
Like hundreds of others who have participated in the programme, Khalid underwent six weeks of psychological counselling, religious re-education, job training and art therapy.
In an effort to smooth their transition to the outside world, officials often help graduates of the rehabilitation programme find a job, a car, and a place to live. Financial incentives are a key, and somewhat controversial, feature of the initiative. Khalid was given a new car and $20,000 to pay for his marriage two years ago. He also receives a monthly stipend.
If the participants have financial means plus work and family obligations, the thinking goes, they are less likely to drift back to the ideology that once held them in thrall.
The carrot-and-stick approach of the rehabilitation programme, praised by the US State Department and British foreign secretary David Miliband among others, stands out in a country where the harsh enforcement of sharia law, including public beheadings and amputation, regularly draws criticism from international human rights groups. The Saudi focus on persuasion and rehabilitation has been trumpeted as a model for other countries struggling with extremism.
In January, however, Saudi authorities were left embarrassed when two former graduates of the programme announced in an internet video that they had become commanders of al-Qaeda’s wing in Yemen. The pair also mocked the rehabilitation initiative. One of the men, Mohammed al-Awfi, is now back in Saudi custody after he turned himself in last month, according to Saudi officials.
The surrender, which officials believe happened after al-Awfi contacted his family, is proof that while the rehabilitation programme is not infallible, it continues to play a crucial role in Saudi Arabia’s efforts to tackle extremism, says Gen Mansour al-Turki, security spokesman for the Interior Ministry.
Of the hundreds that have passed through the programme since 2004, 12 have fallen back into militancy and are on a new list of 85 wanted suspects, and nine have been arrested after rejoining terrorist networks.
The programme, say officials, is not only confined to rehabilitating former militants, but also aims to teach their families and the wider community how to prevent such ideologies taking hold.
“It’s about understanding how this ideology can very easily penetrate because it is introducing itself as based on religious teachings,” says Gen Turki. “People are now more aware of the problem, more aware of the ideology, and more aware that their children can be misled by others.” Combating jihadist ideology in this, the country that produced Osama bin Laden and most of the September 11th hijackers, is no easy task.
The concept of jihad is a powerful theme in Saudi history, from the founding of the state to the glorification of the hundreds of young Saudis who left home to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s. From the Afghan jihad to the current war in Iraq, Saudi Arabia has produced more jihadist fighters than any other country.
When some of those who had flocked to the banner of jihad overseas began turning on their home country, interpreting the religious concept of takfir – judging a fellow Muslim to be an unbeliever – to justify attacks on the kingdom, Saudi authorities were forced to act.
Several influential clerics, including former dissident Salman al-Ouda, once described by Osama Bin Laden as a mentor, have publicly denounced al-Qaeda.
Two years ago Saudi Mufti Sheikh Abd al-Aziz bin Abdallah al-Sheikh issued a fatwa prohibiting Saudi youth from travelling abroad to wage jihad without permission from the country's rulers. A group of Saudi religious scholars has taken the battle for ideas online with an initiative called Sakinah(Arabic for tranquility) in which they infiltrate extremist websites and chat rooms to engage in religious dialogue and counter militant propaganda.
Saudi officials note that the kingdom has not experienced a terrorist attack for some time. Late last year, the government announced that 991 suspected al-Qaeda militants were awaiting trial in connection with some 30 attacks that had occurred since 2003.
“The situation is now under control. We have been able to put a limit on it and designate everyone involved in al-Qaeda activities in this country,” says Gen Turki.
But some analysts wonder if this is enough, and question whether the government is really attempting to address the root causes of extremism. To do that, they argue, would require asking uncomfortable questions about Saudi Arabia’s austere interpretation of Islam, one of the cornerstones of Saudi identity, and how it is taught in the country’s schools and mosques.
“The security forces have succeeded in standing up to the terrorists, but the intellectual source of terrorism has not been addressed as much or as seriously,” says Khalid al-Dakhil, a professor of political sociology at King Saud University.
“How do we deal with the religious discourse that contributes to this problem?”
Gen Turki says there are plans to further widen the campaign against extremism. “The idea now is to have everyone involved in this. That is why the government is taking more steps such as developing the educational system, and looking at other aspects, to make sure everyone in this country is on the same path and we take this ideology out from its roots,” he explains.
“If we can clarify things for society and particularly young people then people can distinguish between what’s right and what’s wrong. All it takes is to mislead five or six people and they are enough to make a big noise. We are prepared. We are not taking any chances. This is an ongoing battle.”
This series, which is now concluded, was supported with a grant from Irish Aid’s Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund.