ABSTRACT
This chapter explains how Saudi efforts to de-radicalise terrorist prisoners developed as part of a new counter terrorism strategy introduced by the Saudi Ministry of Interior in 2004. It presents the key components of the government's engagement with terrorist prisoners, highlights how the program has grown and changed over time, and briefly notes the geo-political and security context within which this specialised form of terrorist rehabilitation was implemented. Saudi de-radicalisation efforts will also be evaluated in terms of their successes and failures with individual prisoners and as part of the kingdoms wider counter terrorism strategy, thereby highlighting critical lessons for other countries detaining terrorist prisoners. By adapting a variety of innovative approaches to prisoner rehabilitation, Saudi authorities have taken major steps to develop a comprehensive program for their own sizeable population of extremist prisoners. The Saudi experience thus provides an imperfect albeit useful model, laying the groundwork for future terrorist prisoner programs in and out of prison.
