Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia has successfully “de-brainwashed” hundreds of former militants, the Financial Times reported this week. The Interior Ministry runs a rehabilitation program for Saudis who were captured in Afghanistan or elsewhere and spent time in the U.S. prison camp at Guantánamo Bay before being handed over to Saudi authorities. Clerics and psychologists administer the six- to 10-week intervention, during which they try to convince detainees that jihad requires the permission of the ruler and top clerics. Prisoners who successfully re-enter society and marry are rewarded with a sum of cash and a car. “They settle down when they marry,” said Abdulrahman al-Hadlaq, who runs the rehabilitation program.
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