Inside Saudi Arabia's rehab centre for jihadists

The Saudi authorities are keen to show the world this rehab centre for jihadists, known officially as the Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef Centre for Counselling and Care.
Founded in 2004, following a series of devastating al-Qaeda attacks in Saudi Arabia, it is intended to be a halfway house between prison and open society.
Most of its inmates are Saudis, convicted under anti-terrorist laws. It prepares ex-convicts for life on the outside and tries to purge them of any violent ideas.

So does it work? Mostly.

There is certainly no other such rehab centre anywhere in the world that is attempting this kind of psychological detoxification on such a large scale.
More than 3,300 inmates have "graduated" from the centre since 2005, according to the staff, including 123 who have been in Guantanamo Bay. The success rate, they said, is 80% with the remaining 20% returning to violence. (A similar scheme I visited in Yemen in 2003 had a significantly lower success rate).
Inmates spend a minimum of three months at the centre before being assessed to see if they ready for release, Their overall programme is divided into three parts:
A counselling phase, which takes place while they are still in prison and before they arrive at the centre
Rehabilitation ("ta'heel" in Arabic) comprising cognitive behaviour programmes, art, culture, religious and sports activities
After care. This continues after their release into society

"Welcome to the oasis of wisdom," said Dr Hamid Al-Shayri, a sociologist from King Saud University. "This is where we try to steer them away from their deviant path so they no longer present a danger to society."
He said his staff sit with the inmates for several hours a day, but added: "It's not an easy task to get people to stop hating society and their families."


Art therapy plays a big role in their rehabilitation, according to their art teacher, Dr Badr Al-Razin. He told me that when they first arrive, many of the ex-convicts want to paint crude, violent images, often in red, but over time their images soften and become gentler.
Religious scholars are on hand at all times, men with a profound knowledge of Islam, who try to use this to explain why the aims and actions of violent jihadists are "haram" (forbidden).
So how, we asked the Yemeni returnees from Guantanamo Bay, do they feel about re-entering society after all this time?
"We have changed," said the oldest one. "We consider ourselves as new individuals now, thanks to this place.

Humble Guardsman wrote:Ignoring the Saudi propensity to greatly exaggerate the success of their programs, this is an interesting case that demonstrates once again that treatment and rehabilitation do wonders for crime reduction compared to punitive laws. I honestly never thought it would apply to religious extremism as well, quite astonishing.

Similar centres in the West might not meet anything like the same success because it will be seen as the tool or propaganda of a decadent western ideology. Nor, I imagine, would the general population of these countries feel any inclination to have such individuals rehabilitated into their society.

 Blackie wrote:
Saudi arabia is the ISIS legalized. If a former terrorist's rehabilization means that he/she becomes like a saudi citizen it only means that he/she doesn't blow up in a crowded place. But he/she will keep the same radical view of living that she/he had before, as saudi arabia is a country governed by sharia laws and an extremely intolerant one.

There's no rehab for these scumbags. They can't ever be part of the civilized world.

Bran Dawri wrote:
Have you been there recently?

jhe90 wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:
It's not very Christian to state there is no rehabilitation possible.

With thr likes of jihadi john, some of the foreign fighters and beheaders, no.
There was no fate for some of them bar vaporised by drone strikes.

Now the kids and younger lower ranks, the ones conscripted and decived, yes there is room for those to be rehabilitated. Not a absolute answer. Somecan, some are too far gone and criminals against humanity, irredeemable.
The higher ranking members and ones who killed kids and such, no going back after that.

 General Annoyance wrote:
I'm personally surprised that this facility is so unique, and that it's in Saudi Arabia too.

 Humble Guardsman wrote:

General Annoyance wrote:...Dubai and Qatar, both places I've lived in for a substantial amount of time...

My fellow male of African-American descent.

Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:

 Humble Guardsman wrote:

General Annoyance wrote:...Dubai and Qatar, both places I've lived in for a substantial amount of time...

My fellow male of African-American descent.

Dubai and Qatar are neither African nor American…

Korinov wrote:

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
Wow some pretty crazy assumptions thrown around. All Saudis are "scumbags"? I'm out when things get to blatant racism.

Nope. Most saudis actually live under an incredibly oppresive regime. A regime which has been the main financer behind islamist terrorism for decades. And which had in Saddam's Iraq one of their main oil exporter competitors in the region.

 jhe90 wrote:


With thr likes of jihadi john, some of the foreign fighters and beheaders, no.
There was no fate for some of them bar vaporised by drone strikes.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
It's not very Christian to state there is no rehabilitation possible.

 General Annoyance wrote:
I missed this post - how rude of me

 General Annoyance wrote:
Mind you, I never heard of these places till reading that article...