Osama's Bomb-maker

Independent Films, Documentaries, Politics

Khalid Al-Jahni was Osama Bin Laden's bomb-maker in Afghanistan.
Can a self-defined Jihadist be "rehabbed?"
After Tora Bora, Guantanamo and a Saudi "terror rehab" program, he is almost living a normal life, almost.

Khalid Al-Jhani was at one time a bomb-maker for Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan. After 9/11 he was captured and held in the American detention facility in Guantanamo for over four years, before returning to his home country, Saudi Arabia, where he passed through a rehabilitation programme for men involved with terror groups. Today he is monitored, but leads an almost normal life after the government helped him find a job, buy a house and get married.

Al-Jhani says he was not impressed by Bin Laden. He hid with Bin Laden in Tora Bora after 9/11 when American forces began bombing the region. He says that Bin Laden was cowardly to flee Tora Bora a day ahead of everyone else.

SOUNDBITE (English) Khalid Al Jhani:
“In 97 he was known for us as a fighter. But in 2001 he become as a president or something like leader of the world or something like that. “

After leaving Tora Bora Jhani was quickly captured by the Pakistani military and then handed over to the American military. He was then flown to the detention facility in Guantanamo. He says that he finally changed his views after seeing a film of 9/11 while held there.

SOUNDBITE (English) Khalid Al Jhani:
“This is not right, this is not the war. We fight as a fighter, soldier. We don’t accept that our civilian being killed by American or by anyone so why we accept that for the civilian? “

After being released from Guantanamo, he was flown back to Saudi Arabia and spent about a year in a Saudi rehabilitation programme. The programme is being watched by other countries as a potentially successful model for reintegrating former terrorists back into society. More than 90 percent of the 400 men who have passed through the programme so far have not returned to violence.

Professor Hamed El-Said, is a consultant to the UN’s Terrorism Monitoring group, which is promoting a global deradicalisation effort. He says that Islam has a strong tradition of forgiveness and that Saudi Arabia’s tightly-knit tribal ties mean that the young men on the programme are seen as family.

SOUNDBITE (English) Professor El-Said:
“These individuals are looked at as our sons, that’s what the Saudis tell you – despite what they committed, despite what they did.”

Tags

• osama bin laden
• terrorist

Directors:

• Muhamed Sacirbey UNTV

Producers:

• Susan Sacirbey