Interesting little piece in Gulf News reporting that the Saudi government has been offering counseling to female terrorists or terror-sympathizers. Apparently successfully, too.
There’s been no media reporting on this that I’ve seen. Stories on the arrests of terrorists do sometimes mention that women in the homes had been taken into detention, but the stories stopped there. Good to see some kind of follow-up.
Women terrorists ‘abandon extremism after counselling’
Mariam Al HakeemRiyadh: An official source at the Ministry of Interior announced that Saudi Arabia was not holding any women terrorists in its prisons.
“All those women who were detained for their extremist links have been released. All of them abandoned their deviant ideologies, thanks to the counselling programmes, organised by the authorities,” the ministry source was quoted by Saudi Arabic dailies as saying.
The source said that the counselling programmes, held at the women’s homes in the presence of their family members, were a resounding success.
Almost all women, who were caught for their extremist links, underwent counselling programme at their homes.
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12:34,
Sorry. Have to call “B.S.” on this, “All of them abandoned their deviant ideologies, thanks to the counselling programmes, organised by the authorities…”
How well are the programs in the States working insofar as “counselling” criminals? How well did it work for Nicholas Sheley? Hmmph. No one can ask his victims. They are dead! ["Public records show Sheley has multiple convictions for robbery, drugs and weapons charges and has spent three years in prison."] I have no more faith in the system here rehabilitating and/or “counselling” victims than I do in the U.S.
Sheley’s story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25475940/
13:19,
The experiences, I think, are not really comparable. In the US case, you’re talking about career criminals. In Saudi Arabia, about young people (for the most part) who have clearly been led astray.
To date, the Saudi record has been good. I’ve seen a figure of 1% recidivism. That’s far better than the 60%-70% recidivism rate for US criminals.
But your point about the victims of even that 1% is taken. Doesn’t help the victim much at all knowing that the crime was ’statistically improbable’.
14:03,
Isn’t that how most career criminals can claim to have started out?
Given the Saudi Govt’s lack of transparency and vested interest in presenting a positive outcome, pardon my skepticism if I wait for independent confirmation.
Let me see if I get this straight. A woman willingly meets up with people who want to blow up a building and kill innumerable people, she gets counseling at home. A woman reluctantly meets her blackmailer in an attempt to get back a photograph and gets gang-raped in the process–she gets 200 lashes?
Wow! Talk about the judicial system’s strange priorities!