Deradicalization programs have been implemented elsewhere, notably in Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. Let’s look at how they fared. From the Jihad Watch archives:
Gitmo prisoner reveals: Saudi “deradicalization program” is really a jihad training program
11 ex-Gitmo prisoners flee the Saudi “rehabilitation program” and join up with terrorist groups
Jaw-dropper: 25 former Gitmo detainees “return to militancy” despite Saudi rehab program!
Flight 253 jihadist wasn’t cured by Saudi anti-jihad art therapy
Former Guantanamo detainee now top al-Qaeda ideologue — “He was transferred to Saudi Arabia in 2006 where he was placed in a national rehabilitation project.”
Indonesian government admits that its jihadist rehab program is a failure
Malaysia: Muslim cleric active in deradicalization program promotes hatred of non-Muslims
France’s only jihadi “deradicalization” center is closing — it was voluntary, and it was empty
“London Bridge killer penned letter in jail asking for deradicalisation course to be a ‘good British citizen,'” ITV News, November 30, 2019:
The London Bridge killer penned a letter from his jail cell asking to take part in a deradicalisation course to become “a good British citizen”, ITV News can reveal.
Usman Khan asked for help from his lawyer in October 2012 after his conviction for plotting to blow up the London Stock Exchange as a member of an al Qaida-inspired group.
The 28-year-old was released on licence last year after serving half of his 16-year sentence but was able to embark on a deadly stabbing spree in central London on Friday, killing a man and a woman and injuring three others.
But during his prison sentence, he wrote a letter from his HMP Belmarsh prison cell, claiming he was “immature” when he committed the offence and now wanted to “learn Islam and its teachings” through a “deradicalidation [sic] course”.
In the letter obtained by ITV News, Khan wrote: “I would like to do such a course so I can prove to the authorities, my family and soicity (sic) in general that I don’t carry the views I had before my arrest and also I can prove that at the time I was immature, and now I am much more mature and want to live my life as a good Muslim and also a good citizen of Britain.”
The attacker was attending a prisoner rehabilitation event organised by the University of Cambridge, where he “threatened to blow up” Fishmongers’ Hall, where the conference was taking place, at around 2pm….