The prisoner rehabilitation program being pursued to reeducate extremists in Saudi prisons is similar to a program initiated in Yemen that has shown modest success in its initial efforts . Saudi Arabia is going a step further by co-opting well-known, hard-line clerics in this effort. The clerics not only debate prisoners, but also infiltrate militant websites, which serve to recruit young Saudis’ into al-Qaeda?s ideology.
Turning the tide on what sometimes seems to be a snowballing process of radicalization in Muslim countries requires creative and varied strategies to take the ideology itself to task, not just demonizing and targeting its followers. A rehabilitation program for former radicals could help demoralize current followers and reveal captured terrorists to be ideologically weak or uncommitted.
It also has its risks. Assumedly, al-Qaeda extremists are impossible to deter because they seek their own martyrdom; years in Saudi prisons could serve as an effective deterrent to young people just starting to get into the ideology. If it is thought that prison time may be reduced to a series of tiresome debates, a test proving rehabilitation and acceptance of government assistance in finding a new job or even a new wife, the deterrent effect may not be as strong.
Still, being able to hold up once committed radicals or terrorists as reformed sends a message that al-Qaeda supporting extremists may not be as committed as believed, and that would reveal a weakness in the ideology. The process itself, entailing hours of engagement with extremists, has the potential to help Saudi authorities understand the nature of what they are combating in order to better counter the message in the public sphere. Still Saudis are hampered by difficult obstacles in this process. First, this problem is a monster of their own creation, the natural outcome of a culture that emphasizes religious fundamentalism and hatred of outsiders. Second, the daily images and propaganda that emanates from Iraq and other conflict zones fuel anger toward both the West and the Saud regime that is allied with it.
The lack of credibility of any clerics aligning themselves with the Saud regime is also likely to undermine the success of the program. In extremist circles, the regime is hated almost as much as the United States , and radical clerics working with it are viewed as having been blackmailed into their roles with threats of prison or death. It is for this reason that independent voices that can articulate an alternative to al-Qaeda?s ideology are ultimately needed.