Saudi "corrects" ideas of 700 Qaeda sympathisers

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L28839870.htm

Saudi "corrects" ideas of 700 Qaeda sympathisers
28 Aug 2006 11:25:21 GMT


RIYADH, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has released over 700 suspected militants after clerics "corrected" their thinking in a special programme aimed at stemming a three-year-old campaign of violence by al Qaeda, officials said.

"They are sympathisers. There are many of this kind of people, who are subject to the process of an advisory committee. Hundreds of them have gone through this and been released," Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki said.

The men have been released at different stages over the past three years, he explained.

...

"First we would deal with them in groups, then individually as they related their thoughts," he told the al-Madina newspaper in an interview published this week.

"They became like this through provocative religious edicts on the Internet or in books, or via preachers who stir up young people's passions in sermons and lectures," he added.

[DRoseDARs]

1. Is this like the Saudi version of ex-gay camps?

:eyes:

[HereSince1628]

2. More like Soviet psychological rehabilitation for dissenters.

These people are victims of corrupting influence. Proper rehabilitation and more stringent restrictions on the press are sure to clean up all the problems in the kingdom.

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. Why does this remind me

of Clockwork Orange?