| Let the debates intensify .... |
A pioneering scheme to fight Islamist terror by encouraging jailed extremists to rethink their grasp of the Koran is under fire after claims that some of its "converts" have taken up arms again.
The project, launched in Yemen three years ago by an Islamic scholar, Judge Hamoud al-Hitar, has been followed closely by the British Government, which has twice invited him to lecture senior anti-terrorism officials at Scotland Yard.
The effectiveness of his technique - a theological "duel" in which he and the prisoners quote Koranic texts at each other - is in doubt, however, after reports that some al-Qaeda militants freed under the scheme have been caught fighting coalition forces in Iraq.
Among those released is the former chief bodyguard of Osama bin Laden, Nasser Al-Bahri, who has admitted that his sessions with Judge al-Hitar did nothing to diminish his belief in the leader of al-Qaeda. Instead, he suggested that many militants simply pretended to repent to gain quick release from jail.
His claims, made in a BBC documentary to be broadcast on Thursday, will give ammunition to those who doubt the possibility of re-educating extremists.
In Britain, the Metropolitan Police plans to give Muslim prisoners in London jails religious "mentors" to remind them of the values of mainstream Islam.
The Yemeni scheme was launched amid fears that al-Qaeda was attempting to turn the mountainous Arabian peninsula state into a base for terrorist attacks, aided by locals who had returned there after fighting in Afghanistan.
In October 2000 two suicide bombers blew up the American destroyer, USS Cole, in Yemen's main port, Aden, killing 17 American sailors. Other smaller scale attacks followed over the next two years.
The absence of further violence since then is cited by Judge al-Hitar as evidence of the success of his scheme.
The Yemeni authorities say the scheme's biggest success came after one of its converts tipped them off on the whereabouts of their most wanted al-Qaeda suspect, Mohammed al-Ahdal.
So far, 364 young men have been freed on parole under the scheme, which also gives them state help to start a new life.
Reports about Judge al-Hitar's achievements led to his first invitation to Britain from the Foreign Office in February last year, soon after a visit by the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, to Yemen. Al-Hitar talked to Metropolitan Police officers and Home Office officials and returned three months later to speak to Special Branch.
Whitehall's attention followed concern that some Muslim prisoners, such as the shoe bomber Richard Reid, were being radicalised in British jails.