Suhaimi, the Al-Munasaha program was set up after some returnees from Guantanamo failed to reintegrate into society. “It was only the sixth group of returnees onward that were put through the program. Most of those who returned to their previous ways had not been put through it.” The program, he added, also has marriage and Umrah pilgrimage schemes through which over 150 detainees have been on the Haj and Umrah journeys with their families at the expense of the Ministry of Interior. Al-Suhaimi also revealed that the Al-Munasaha program runs schemes for persons not in detention but deemed “susceptible to deviation”. “The scheme has been run in six provinces, and programs have been stepped up through Friday sermons and schools after the committee observed that deviant thought was still managing to attract many people,” he said. The committee was set up in mid-2004 by Prince Muhammad Bin Naif Bin Abdul Aziz, Assistant Minister for Security Affairs, to address “deviant thought”. Al-Munasaha consists of three main committees – the Scientific Committee, the Security Committee, and the Psychology Committee – which are composed of sheikhs and Shariah scholars, and social and psychiatric consultants. The program has seen 150 persons turn their back on deviant thought. The Al-Munasaha Committee runs awareness schemes across the country. Its activities include lectures and courses to combat deviant thought and misunderstandings held at schools, mosques and summer camps. __
