CARE REHABILITATION CENTER

Saudi Arabia's Efforts in Combat Terrorist Ideology through the Care Rehabilitation Center



Saudi Arabia's Efforts in Combat Terrorist Ideology through the Care Rehabilitation Center

Introduction

Saudi Arabia is one of the countries that been attacked by terrorist operations since 1979. After Saudi government had observed extremism and its possible causes, it adopted a strategy, in the fight against extremism and terrorism, to focus on the roots and not the branches. The strategy based on rehabilitation and care. Saudi Arabia felt that terrorism turns into action, so it faced the intellectual and ideological extremism by counseling and persuasion the extremists. At the same time, Saudi government did continue to recognize the risk that the terrorists presented to national security, and they were carefully confined. “Security activity is insufficient if it is not accompanied by ideological activity, this [terrorism] is a virus in the body of this nation and, if we do not reach, diagnose and kill it- it will remain” (Abdulaziz, 2007). The modification process of combating the extremist ideology started with counseling committees, and after these committees proved successful, the idea of establishing “The Care Rehabilitation Center” suggested by Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, the Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs.

Establishment

The first idea was to create a counseling committee in 2004. The members of the committee were religious experts and scholars, who worked inside prisons. The committee's goal was to correct detainees' erroneous convictions, by using the method of dialogue and discussion concerning doctrinal issues. With the success achieved by the committee in influencing, many of the extremists' believed that the Saudi government has decided to establish The Care Rehabilitation Center in 2006 (Okaze News, 2010)

Purpose

The purpose to establish this center was to accommodate those who involved in the awkward thought, correct their misconception, and reintegrate them into ...