Gulf | Saudi Arabia
Women terrorists 'abandon extremism after counselling'
An official source at the Ministry of Interior announced that Saudi Arabia was not holding any women terrorists in its prisons.
- By Mariam Al Hakeem, Correspondent
- Published: 00:08 July 2, 2008
Riyadh: 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.
The only exception was a Bosnian woman, the wife of Younus Al Hayari, one of the most wanted terrorists who was killed in an encounter with the security forces in east of Riyadh three years ago. The woman was imprisoned for some time and was later deported.
Among the women who repented for having extremist ideologies and returned to normal life was Ummu Osama, who was once the leader of Al Qaida women's wing in the kingdom. Saudi Television also carried a detailed story of Ummu Osama's harrowing experience with the terror cell.
The young Egyptian woman once served as the supervisor of Al Khanza website, founded by Abdul Aziz Al Moqrin, leader of Al Qaida cell in Saudi Arabia, who was killed in 2004.
Ummu Osama abandoned Al Qaida and repented as a result of the counselling programme, organised with the Interior Ministry officials in cooperation with her family members. She is now leading a normal life with her father in Madinah.
Al Qaida dismissed her from the terror cell, calling her a hypocrite. Al Qaida tried to recruit women into the terror cell mainly through Al Khanza website, which no longer exists. Al Khanza was the daughter of the second Caliph Omar, and a famous poet in Islam.
Several foreign media, including ABC television network, and French newspaper Le Monde, carried reports about the women's website of Al Qaida.
In an interview published in 2003, Ummu Osama explained about Al Qaida's strategy to recruit women by making use of the website.
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