GLOBE AND MAIL: Controversial Saudi rehab program aims to reform jihadists returning from U.S. prisons
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — He fought with Osama bin Laden in Tora Bora, lived with Abu Zubaydah in Peshawar and trained with Sheikh al-Libi in Afghanistan.
So when Khalid Al Hubayshi returned home to Saudi Arabia in 2006 after three hard years at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, he thought his punishment would continue.
Instead, he was treated to a private audience with the Prince, given a brand new Toyota Corolla and thousands of dollars in cash. The government helped him land a job at a state electrical company, financed his wedding and sponsored psychological counselling sessions aimed at dissolving any lingering jihadist tendencies.
Mr. Al Hubayshi, now 33, is one of the first graduates of a controversial Saudi program designed to rehabilitate hard-core militants who have begun to trickle back home after serving time in U.S. detention.
The soft approach of the jihadist rehabilitation program is remarkable in a country ruled strictly by sharia law, where justice can involve public beheading and amputation.
Prisoners are treated at the Hayar Care Center, a sprawling compound on the outskirts of Riyadh where perks include PlayStations, table tennis and art therapy.
"Locking them up is not the answer," Awad Alyame, a program co-ordinator, says. "We have to address the underlying problems that drove him to jihad in a positive way to lower the risk of reoffending."
The treatment appears to have worked for Mr. Al Hubayshi. Prisoner number 155 at Guantanamo's Camp Delta now lives the middle-class dream in Jeddah. Terrorists ‘Cured’ with Cash, Cars, and Counselling >>> By Sonia Verma | September 11, 2008
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