One in five Guantanamo detainees rejects rehab

RIYADH // Extremists who spent time at Guantanamo are twice as likely to relapse than others attending Saudi Arabia's much-praised rehabilitation programme, a senior interior ministry official said yesterday. Extremists had an overall relapse rate of about 9.5 per cent, but that number soars to around 20 per cent for those who joined the programme from Guantanamo.
Abdulrahman al Hadlaq, the general director of the ministry's ideological security directorate, attributed the higher relapse rate to a greater sense of "solidarity" among ex-Guantanamo detainees, which gives them more influence over one another and helps them to stay in close touch. He also blamed the treatment they received at the US military-run detention camp in Cuba. "Torture is the most dangerous thing because in the end you will be having something called 'revenge'," said Mr al Hadlaq, whose job includes overseeing the rehabilitation programme.
It is the first time a Saudi official has given a precise figure for recidivism among the 120 former Guantanamo prisoners who have gone through the rehab programme. So far, 25 of them have relapsed, Mr al Hadlaq said. Of those, 11 went to Yemen to join al Qa'eda's branch there, though one subsequently returned and surrendered to Saudi authorities. Four of the 25 who relapsed were killed. Some others were re-arrested "for not abiding by the rules" governing their release.
For example, programme graduates are requested not to associate with one another and to regularly check in by phone with a security official. Mr al Hadlaq spoke at a briefing requested by foreign journalists on the rehabilitation programme, which is part of the ministry's much broader, multi-faceted campaign against the ideology of al Qa'eda. US officials released Saudis held at Guantanamo in small groups over more than a year. Currently, 13 Saudis are still detained at the US base.
The interior ministry spokesman, Gen Mansour al Turki, who was also at the briefing, said that members of the "10th group" of detainees, who returned to Saudi Arabia in Novemember 2007, were the most problematic. "The 10th group created the storm which caused a number of them to go to Yemen," he said. Mr al Hadlaq added that the returnees from Guantanamo felt a close bond with each other because of their common experiences at Guantanamo. Others in the rehab programme "don't have the solidarity like those from Guantanamo. They know each other and ... basically one or two of them can influence others".
So far, about 300 detainees have gone through the programme. Apart from Guantanamo returnees, they included militants released from Saudi prisons after completing their sentences, and those caught trying to join the Iraqi insurgency. A key reason for the programme's relative success, the two officials said, is the involvement of families in supporting and monitoring the men after they have been through the programme.
At one point, US officials explored with Saudi officials the possibility of transferring the Yemenis still detained at Guantanamo into the Saudi Arabia rehab programme. Washington is fearful that if it releases the Yemenis, who make up the largest group still held at the US prison, to their homeland many of them will rejoin al Qa'eda there. Yemen does not have an effective rehabilitation programme.
But Mr al Hadlaq said that idea is not workable because his programme's success depends heavily on family support for the released detainee so he will not relapse. "The closer the family, the better the programme," said Mr al Hadlaq. "If you bring foreigners here it will not be as effective." Gen al Turki said the government plans to expand the rehab programme to five other centres around the kingdom, each of which would hold 250 "beneficiaries", as programme attendees are called. Construction on those centres will begin soon.
This expansion suggests that militants now held in Saudi prisons will go through the rehab programme after completing their sentences. The two officials declined to specify the exact number of detainees being held for extremist activities, saying only that they numbered "several thousand". Of those, 400 are former teachers in government schools. These detainees, for the most part, were arrested for alleged extremist-related, but non-violent activities, such as collecting money for al Qa'eda, or furthering extremism on the internet. There are "very few" hard-core al Qa'eda members in Saudi prisons, the officials said.
Mr al Hadlaq said he believes the government's battle against extremist thought is succeeding. "There is no doubt that radicalism is less than before," he said. "Sympathy with al Qa'eda is a lot less. People are willing to criticise and condemn this group. These are clear signs that al Qa'eda is losing." Nevertheless, he added, "in the end, it is not eliminated". cmurphy@thenational.ae