Saudis Use Soft Touch to 'Save' Former Militants

Author:
Source: AFP
Date: 2009-04-28

It was seeing the now notorious photographs of American soldiers torturing Iraqis inside Abu Ghraib prison that set Abdullah al-Hammami on the path of jihad.

"I wanted to kill Americans," he said. But instead he was arrested in Saudi Arabia as he was heading to Iraq in 2005 and spent 44 months in prison.

Now he says that what he had wanted to do was wrong. "We had a corrupted concept about jihad," Hammami told AFP during an organised visit to the Prince Mohammed bin Nayef Centre for Care and Counselling.

Saudi Arabia set up the pioneering rehabilitation facility three years ago for returnees from the US prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and for militants arrested inside the country.

Hammami had just come from a class in his "resort", as his centre unit is called, where Sheikh Ahmed Hamid Jelani, a smiling, pudgy-faced cleric, led a discussion on the principles behind jihad, or Islamic holy war.

The care centre is Saudi Arabia?s front line for ensuring that Al-Qaeda does not rear its head again, after a series of lethal domestic attacks between 2003 and 2006 forced Riyadh to concede the country was breeding terrorists.

More than 270 detainees -- 117 released from Guantanamo -- have already been put through the centre's programme to draw them back into the bosom of the Saudi state and persuade them to abandon politics.

The centre is the polar opposite of Guantanamo, where harsh interrogation methods aim to break the will of detainees.

Instead, the Saudi authorities mother them with ample food, recreation and classes designed to persuade them that they may have had good intentions, but that they had made the wrong choice.

"Now I know the rules and regulations for jihad," Hammami said. "First, it needs the consent of the government. Second, the consent of my parents."

According to Abdul Rahman al-Hadleq, the interior ministry's director of ideological security, "the hard approach is not the only approach."

Named after the assistant interior minister for security who launched it, the care centre opened in early 2006, and Saudi officials are proud of the low recidivist rate among those released back into society.

Of the former Guantanamo inmates, only 11 have gone astray. Five were jailed, five are still missing and one, Mohammed al-Awfi, returned voluntarily after linking up with Al-Qaeda in Yemen.

While the care centre has a bevy of psychologists and other experts to figure the detainees out, its approach boils down to convincing them that in going on jihad they rejected Saudi society -- family, tribe and the state that provides for them.

The programme offers ample financial and social benefits, aiming to ensure that a graduate turns to the right people when he has questions on how a good Saudi Muslim should behave.

"We tell them it's not your responsibility to decide," said Turki al-Otayan, the centre's main psychologist.

This approach is underpinned in the deeply conservative Wahhabist school of Islam, the basis of the Saudi state, where the patriarchal royal family rules with the support of powerful clerics over a heavily tribal and family-based society.

"There is a lot in Wahhabism about obedience and recognition of authority," said Christopher Boucek of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, who has researched the care centre.

The Guantanamo detainees get a taste of this as soon as they arrive. They are hugged, kissed and well-fed. They meet Prince Mohammed himself one-on-one. Much of the first week home is spent with their families.

After some weeks, a centre "beneficiary" receives multi-day leave of absence for family holidays, also paid for by the government. The family gets stipends too. In return, all are held responsible if he backtracks to militancy.

Hadleq said a primary goal is to get the ex-militant married, to saddle him with responsibilities that would prohibit time for politics. The graduates get money for dowries and homes to live in, and babies also get financial support.

After graduating, "you have to live in the area of your family and your tribe. It is strong social control," said one security official.

The care centre is located behind three-metre-high (10-foot-high) walls in a nondescript suburban Riyadh neighbourhood, just off a main thoroughfare lined with family amusement parks and karting tracks.

The compound is made up of separate "resorts". There are bedrooms, a kitchen, classrooms and a fake bedouin tent used for meetings and prayers. The wall of one building sports a large painting of a leafy tree being watered by the hand of Prince Mohammed.

The detainees are not lost for recreation for the three to 12 months they spend there. There is a swimming pool and gym, a billiards table, computer game consoles and a well-used volleyball court.

They take drawing classes from an art therapist, who says many often start by depicting violent scenes and end up painting bucolic landscapes.

"We do not do negative brainwash. We do positive brainwash," Otayan said.

Foreign security officials praise the centre's innovative approach, but say it is unlikely the same model could be applied to militants from other states -- like the Yemenis at Guantanamo that some have suggested be placed in Saudi hands.

In addition, the centre is only for the least strident militants the Saudis have arrested. The government has jailed at least 1,500 militants and stresses that "anyone with blood on their hands" is a terrorist and will not be freed.

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Terrorism: A Cultural Phenomenon

Author: Turki al-Hamad
Source: Asharq Al-Awsat
Date: 2009-04-27

An Al Qaeda cell was recently arrested in Saudi Arabia, prior to this a huge number of suspects were detained last year; all in all 500 Al Qaeda members were arrested in one big swoop [in June 2008]. Since early last year a total of 700 people have been arrested on charges of belonging to the Al Qaeda organization. They planned to wreak havoc across the globe by targeting the international economy by way of attacking Saudi Arabia's oil facilities and assassinating [Saudi] security and civilian figures. This came at a time when we believed that the Al Qaeda organization in Saudi Arabia was almost finished, leaving only remnants behind. Then the news [of these arrests] reached us and we had no choice but to look at the issue again.

Three conclusions can be drawn from these reports, some which are positive, but the majority of which have are negative.

The first conclusion is that the fight against terrorism continues, and that the security efforts to pursue terrorism and the terrorists – especially in Saudi Arabia – are largely successful. This can be seen in the large number of Al Qaeda members who have been detained, and the uncovering of the terrorist cell before it was able to carry out any terrorist activities. This is an effort that deserves praise, for were it not for the vigilance of the Saudi security forces in this area, and their efficiency in tracking down these terrorists, the situation could be much different.

The second conclusion is that the Al Qaeda organization remains active and strong; evidence of this [conclusion] can be seen in the continued existence of the group despite all efforts [to wipe it out]. The recent lack of operations is nothing more than the organization lying in wait and recalculating, a change in tactics and strategy, in the way that a chameleon blends into its environment and lies in wait for its prey. The low profile that Al Qaeda was keeping with regards to its strength and activities [in Saudi Arabia] was broken up by the Saudi security authorities [arrest of its members] and this raises the following questions; why has Al Qaeda remained attractive to a large number of our youth? Why does this organization gain so many followers despite all efforts to combat it at various levels?

Answers to questions like this vary according to circumstances such as time and place, and there is no single factor that can explain the endurance of Al Qaeda and its ideology despite all efforts to contain it. Perhaps time and place are not the only circumstances that can explain Al Qaeda's survival. To a large extent the answer to the above questions lies in the nature of the efforts made to combat Al Qaeda, which at times addresses the results [of terrorism] – something that is necessary- without directly engaging the root of the problem. Ultimately Al Qaeda's strength does not lie in the organization itself so much as in the environment that facilitates Al Qaeda's recruitment of supporters and followers. And so despite all the security efforts to combat Al Qaeda and its active and sleeper cells, these efforts – which deserve to be praised- have ultimately not succeeded in rooting out Al Qaeda. This can be seen in the continued existence of the organization in Saudi Arabia, as well as in the Al Qaeda cell that was preparing to carry out operations [on Saudi soil]. This despite all the efforts of the security services and the Munasaha [rehabilitation] program, despite [Saudi Arabia] opening the door to amnesty [for reformed extremists], and the government describing them as misguided rather than criminals. And so despite all of these opportunities the news continued to be reported that Al Qaeda have a strong presence [in Saudi Arabia] and that their [terrorist] activities are ongoing.

Why is this the case?

The third and most important conclusion is that the persistence of Al Qaeda is a result of the persistence of the circumstances that Al Qaeda is working against, this provides the organization a suitable environment for existence and vitality. The spread of an epidemic is not due to the strength of the virus itself, but due to the existence of an environment that provides the virus with the opportunity to grow and develop. The fight against the epidemic is therefore the fight against the virus itself, and so unless the virus itself is combated the epidemic will continue. The same can be said about Al Qaeda. In Saudi Arabia, for example, the security agencies performed their full role with regards to the detection, investigation and arrest [of terrorists] but this is not everything. Weeds return once they have been plucked out so long as their roots remain intact. The roots in this case, and in any real society, are the places of socialization, from homes to the mosque, from social clubs to the media and others. These help to shape an individual's personality from childhood, and help them move in one direction or another or at the least give the individual the potential of moving in one direction or the other. These institutions sow the first seeds that give rise to the core of thought and behavior; this supports the popular [Arab] proverb "One goes back to their roots."

The security success in the fight against terrorism and the forces of destruction has not been accompanied by successes in the fight against the ideology behind this destructive behavior. What other explanation is there for the hundreds of Al Qaeda recruits, a figure which represents only the tip of the iceberg, not to mention the silent followers and sympathizers. There is a defect – there can be no doubt about that – and this is in the damage that has been caused by the educational institutes [in Saudi Arabia] since we diverted from the correct path, socially and culturally, and we took up the labyrinthine ideology of the Sahwa [Islamic re-awakening] in the late 1970s [following the Mecca siege]. Educational institutes, without exception, began to reflect this ideology. This is an ideology that is in essence a culture of blood and death that calls for the eliminating of the unbelievers – i.e. anyone who does not fully agree with this ideology – both within Saudi Arabia and abroad. All educational institutions then formed along this basis, in the light of the ideological struggle against the Iranian revolution that was attempting to export a different concept of Islam, as well as the political struggle against a superpower that was attempting to occupy Afghanistan in order to access the waters of the Gulf. These factors resulted in the state turning a blind eye to what was going on inside these educational institutes, and even in some cases encouraging what was gong on there for political purposes, and so today we are reaping what we sowed.

Perhaps circumstance rules supreme, and the game of politics has its own rules, and some things are necessary. There is no shame in making a mistake - life in essence is trial and error – but it is shameful to deny making the mistake [in the first place] and to continue to make the same mistake over and over again. As for nations, it is wrong to continue implementing a policy that may have been effective once, but is a disaster once circumstances have changed. In the end, the wise man is one that not only listens to others, but who also listens to his own experience and history. Only the obstinate will deny that there have been efforts to release these educational institutes from their [ideological] captivity, but these efforts have only dealt with the visible tip of the iceberg. This is where the problem lies, schools and educational curriculums continue to disseminate extremist ideology in spite of the efforts to reduce its impact, and has resulted in the elimination of the effective education of any cadres by involving Islam in the fields of chemistry and medicine, resulting in the classification of humanity [into believer and unbeliever] and the promotion of hatred and a culture of death. Some mosques continue to give sermons calling for death, destruction and killing, but now we are in need of new sermons that call for tolerance and inter-faith dialogue, because we are all the children of Adam. We are in need of sermons that address the glories of life and humanity. At this point someone will ask; are we supposed to leave behind our culture and religion?

Of course not, for those that are in control of the world today have not forgotten their culture and religion, indeed they are well aware of their own religion, and how the world works. We are Muslims, there is no doubt about that, but we are not by necessity Islamists, and there is a difference between Islam and Islamism. Before the Sahwa we were a society of Muslims, giving God his right, and not forgetting our lot in the world. But after the Sahwa and the kidnapping of our educational institutes we became a society of Islamists forgetting our lot in the world. There is no getting out of this situation except by going back to the world that we neglected and returning to our Islam and our humanity. Without uprooting the intellectual and cultural roots behind extremism and violence, we will continue to be plagued by these [ideological] weeds, pulling them out but leaving the roots to remain and sprout once more. Until the situation changes, Al Qaeda and its supporters will continue to exist and appear in this same way.

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Foreign Ministry open to expanding pilgrim visa services: Official

Author:
Source: Arab News
Date: 2009-04-27

The Foreign Ministry may consider opening centers for issuing visas in various parts of countries that send large numbers of pilgrims for Haj and Umrah, an official said yesterday.

The aim of opening such centers would be to reduce crowding at Saudi embassies and consulates, Muhammad bin Ahmed Tayeb, director general of the ministry’s office in Makkah province, told Arab News.

“It’s possible. In fact, this is our policy. During the Haj season we send many officials to different countries to issue visas and support our staff in embassies, particularly in countries such as India, Indonesia, Turkey and Egypt,” Tayeb said when asked about the possibility of expanding visa services abroad.

However, he pointed out that for opening such offices provincial authorities in those countries should make formal requests to the Saudi ministry through their central governments.

“We can send two or three officials to the Indian state of Kerala, for example, to issue Haj visas if required,” he said, adding that the ministry would respond positively to such requests.

Tayeb also spoke about the new visa introduced by the Kingdom in order to help foreign businessmen explore investment opportunities in the Kingdom and establish links with their Saudi counterparts.

“Businessmen can now get visas directly from our missions and they don’t need an invitation letter from the Kingdom.” He said if any businessmen faced problems in getting visas they should contact the ministry. “We’ll help them,” he added.

Tayeb emphasized the Kingdom’s efforts to boost domestic tourism in order to make the sector a major revenue earner. “Tourism is very important for our national economy and our people have begun to realize its benefits,” he said.

The impact of the current global financial crisis on Saudi Arabia has not been as serious as on other countries thanks to the economic measures taken by the government.

He described the appointment of Prince Naif as second deputy premier as “a very good step,” adding that it would strengthen the Kingdom’s political stability.

“Prince Naif is an experienced statesman. He has been the country’s interior minister for 35 years. He is a well-known figure in the Arab world so his appointment was not a surprise. People in general are satisfied with this decision,” he said.

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Stem cell association shut down in Jeddah

Author:
Source: Saudi Gazette
Date: 2009-04-26

Health authorities on Saturday shut down an association here collecting stem cells.
The association used to take stem cells from the umbilical cord linking the mother and the fetus, after convincing the family that the cells could be kept for up to twenty years and used if the child or anyone in the family suffered from any dangerous disease.

The association used to save the stem cells in special labs and charged the family an annual fee.
The stem cells can be used to treat falciparum anemia, Mediterranean anemia, hemophilia, endocrine tumors, tumors of blood, as well as diseases of the immune system, diabetes, and heart disease.

“After we made an inspection tour of the association, we discovered that the institution was functioning without a proper license from the Ministry of Health,” said Mohammed Abduljawad, assistant director of Jeddah Health Affairs Management.

The Ministry of Health, he said, is still studying the possibility of using stem cells from all angles – religious, moral, and scientific.

“Many local and international scientists have studied the advantages and disadvantages of using stem cells, but until now there have been no clear cut results,” added Abduljawad.

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Police crack mystery of crime wave in Riyadh

Author:
Source: Saudi Gazette
Date: 2009-04-26

Riyadh Police busted a gang that allegedly carried out a string of armed robberies and thefts in Al-Malaz and Al-Manar districts in the capital over the past four months.

The arrests were made after methodical investigation led undercover policemen to one of the suspects, a Saudi man in his twenties, a police statement said. The arrested suspect led the police to several alleged accomplices, at least two of them Saudis, who were all arrested.

The investigators worked on the basis of several similar crimes reported, starting with a complaint made to Al-Malaz Police Station by an Asian expatriate in his thirties who said three dark-skinned men, one of them toting a pistol, attacked him in the shop where he was working. They robbed prepaid telephone cards from him and fled in a sea-blue Hyundai Accent.
Three months later, Al-Malaz Police Station received a similar report of three dark-skinned men attacking an Asian worker in a shop and getting away with SR4,000 in cash, several prepaid phone cards and his mobile telephone. This time, the escape car was a green Honda Civic.
On the same day, Al-Malaz Police Station received another similar report, and more followed in the days afterwards.

The Director of Riyadh Police got the the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to investigate and soon enough a link was made to a green Honda Civic that was reported stolen by a Saudi national who had parked it in front of his home.

Since the crimes were all in Al-Malaz and Al-Manar districts, the investigators undercover policemen into these areas, which resulted in the breakthrough.
The suspects would be referred to the court, the police statement said.

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No Disagreements between Libya and Saudi Arabia- Libyan Aide

Author: Sawsan Abu-Husain
Source: Asharq Al-Awsat
Date: 2009-04-25

Ahmad Qadhaf al-Dam, general coordinator of Egyptian-Libyan relations, has underlined the importance of the appeal for Arab unity made by King Abdullah Bin-Abdulaziz, the custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that "there are no disagreements between Libya and Saudi Arabia" and added that there was nothing preventing the exchange of visits between Riyadh and Tripoli and pointed out that Libyan leader Muammar al-Qadhafi has sent live on the air an open invitation to exchange visits. He said the page of the past was closed in favor of joint Arab action during the next stage and added: "There is no disagreement between us and Saudi Arabia but there was a misunderstanding which is now over because the danger to the region does not differentiate between one country and another. Everyone is targeted and we must therefore return to our unity, as the custodian of the Two Holy Mosques had asserted, so that we can work together for the sake of the Arab nation's interest."

Qadhaf al-Dam urged the mobilization of forces to confront the real enemy and solve the Arab problems and to distance themselves from any conflicts or disputes that perpetuate the inter-Arab differences. Speaking at a meeting with the Egyptian and Arab media correspondents at the wheat harvest festival in 6,000 feddans that a Libyan company owns in Ismailia Governorate (100 km east of Cairo), he said: "Libya is against any Arab-Arab problems or disputes."

On holding the next Arab summit in Libya, he said: "We are aspiring for the Tripoli summit to be a qualitative stage in the Arab nation's history and that the Arabs will reach total agreement during it." He pointed out that the situation through which the Arab world is going at present requires the unity of their ranks.

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Prince Naif and the Protection of the Sharia

Author: Dr. Aaidh al-Qarni
Source: Asharq Al-Awsat
Date: 2009-04-14

We congratulate Prince Naif Bin-Abdulaziz for the royal trust appointing him as second deputy to the custodian of the two holy shrines. Everyone wrote on this event in accordance with his specialization and field of work. Security officials talked about Prince Naif and his remarkable record in safeguarding security in the homeland; politicians talked about him and his long career in politics; and media representatives talked about Prince Naif and his media career. In my capacity as a seeker of knowledge and a preacher, I have had a long association with Prince Naif in the fields of Al-Dawa, guidance, oratory, and good counsel.

At every gathering, Prince Naif pointed out clearly and unequivocally that the basis of the legitimacy of the Saudi state is Islam and that its message to the world is Islam. He said that Islam is faith, worship, and a way of life; it is the constitution of the state. I have attended a meeting chaired by Prince Naif with Islamic preachers in the house of Islamic Affairs Minister His Excellency Sheikh Saleh Al al-Sheikh. I have also been to other meetings with Prince Naif in his office, in the university, and in the headquarters of the Prince Naif Prize for Sunnah and Islamic Studies. He always proclaimed that the state is the protector of Islamic Shariaa and that it embraces the Islamic project in every single aspect of public life. The best evidence to this is that Prince Naif founded the biggest international prize for the prophet's Sunnah and selected the city of the cherished messenger of God, may God's blessings and prayers be upon him, as the headquarters of this prize. Prince Naif always attended with us lectures, panels, and media events either through encouragement or through observations. As in ijtihad [the Islamic process of making legal decisions by independent interpretation], we sometimes erred and sometimes hit the mark.

I once delivered a lecture in the King Khalid Mosque in Riyadh on the centrism and toleration of Islam and that the first duty of the state is to protect religion and the community. After the lecture, Prince Naif contacted me to congratulate me and thank me. This has happened regularly with other seekers of knowledge. At a press conference after the 11 September events and the pressures and threats to which Saudi Arabia was subjected, he said: We are afraid of no one but God; we are not afraid of anyone but God. These words are similar to the words of King Abdulaziz, his father and founder of the state, may God rest his soul in peace, when he told a governor of a Saudi region - as mentioned in the book "The Saudis and the Islamic Solution" – if God is with you, who would you be afraid of? And if God is against you, to whom can you plead? The Islamic scholars and preachers need support in their projects to promote Al-Dawa and in their reformist centrist and moderate march along the teachings of the holy book and the Sunnah. This is what we see in the land and state of Islam.

Prince Naif's determination to protect the Shariaa and champion the prophet's Sunnah proceeds from his understanding of the divine reformist, rejuvenating, and civilized program undertaken by the state. This program started in the agreement of the two imams Muhammad Bin-Saud and Muhammad Bin-Abdul-Wahab so that God Almighty would champion Islam, power stands alongside justice, and the authority supports Al-Shariaa. This is what is required and expected of every official in this entity. As students of knowledge and preachers, we have experienced Prince Naif's stands in support of the religious scholars or the preachers or the men of the [Promotion of Virtue and Propagation of Vice] Commission or anyone that holds sound thinking and follows the sound path and righteousness shown to us by the prophet, may God's blessings and prayers be upon him.

The correct and sound Dawa and useful knowledge need a just power, an existing state, and a respected authority. God Almighty called his prophets "possessors of power and vision" [part of Koranic verse; Suad,38:45]; that is, just power and useful knowledge. On behalf of every single student of knowledge, preacher, scholar, and mosque imam, we congratulate Prince Naif for the trust of the ruler. We pray to God Almighty to grant him and his brothers wisdom, success, and guidance to protect the Community of Islam, protect the country, defend Shariaa, safeguard the gains, protect the entity, and complete the plan for unity and unification that the forefathers set up 100 years ago. After being divided in the Arabian Peninsula, we became one state that raises the banner of (There is no God but Allah; Muhammad is the messenger of Allah).

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Another Remarkable Achievement

Author: Hussein Shobokshi
Source: Asharq Al-Awsat
Date: 2009-04-13

Shortly after it was announced that members of an Al Qaeda cell had been found in a mountain cave on the Saudi-Yemeni border and arrested, I attended a gathering with Saudi Interior Minister Prince Naif Bin Abdulaziz in which he spoke about various administrative and development issues and expressed important views and opinions on these issues.

There was something very important about Prince Naif’s comments on terrorism and its challenges; it was the confident tone of his voice and his choice of words. Today, Saudi Arabia, through its battle against terrorism and the exceptional manner with which it has dealt with this issue, has become an ideological and security reference because of the way it has dealt with this cancerous threat. At the heart of this battle against terrorism is role of the Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs, Prince Mohammed Bin Naif.

I was at a conference where international security issues were being discussed and extremism and terrorism were among the topics on the agenda. On the sidelines of the meeting, I spoke to a retired British senior security official and during our conversation he expressed his admiration for Prince Mohammed Bin Naif’s methodology in dealing with the unprecedented challenge of terrorism and the way that he has distinguished between the security confrontation, on the one hand, and ideological confrontation on the other, both of which have been provided with material, institutional and human support. Prince Mohammed Bin Naif has built bridges of trust between him and the executive cadres in the Ministry of Interior, and with the public and the media sector as well. He established a solid approach for public participation in security affairs. Consequently, Saudi society interacted with the martyred members of security forces who died as they combated terror. This approach became what we now call a case study for others to benefit from. Today, this approach is being studied carefully by numerous security apparatus around the world.

Dealing with terrorism, which the Saudi security forces are doing today, is no ordinary challenge. When an army’s forces are being deployed to face an enemy on its borders, they are aware of the kind of danger they are facing and can deal with this enemy. However, in the case of terrorism, it is an unknown and mysterious enemy that requires intelligence-gathering and having adequate security on the ground as well as monitoring the web, which is teeming with all sorts of dangerous ideas.

There is a kind of “happiness” amongst Saudis over the important and remarkable results that have been achieved thus far and this cannot be overlooked or denied. This feeling of happiness is gradually being translated into a sense of pride and dignity with respect to the performance and methodology of security cadres. Some people even compared these successes to the victories of the Saudi national football team and the celebrations that followed such feats. Therefore, these security achievements have contributed to raising spirits in a tangible manner and strengthening the sense of belonging amongst the people.

The counter-terrorism unit in the Saudi Ministry of Interior has transformed into a model of effective management and efficiency in achieving results. It is a success story that deserves to be told and documented on a large scale owing to its great significance in demonstrating capability, leadership, teamwork and the struggle for achieving bigger and more important goals.

New generations of Saudi youth need to take a close look at this significant and remarkable experience because it could be one of the most powerful driving forces behind strengthening the sense of belonging.

The country is in dire need of raising the patriotic spirit in the face of gloom, ignorance and isolation. The arrest of the terrorist cell on the Saudi-Yemeni borders is another remarkable achievement that can be credited to the Saudi security forces. It is hoped, and required, that there is more awareness of- and participation in- such achievements so that such benefits can prevail.

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