Hamoud Hattar

Judge Hamoud Hattar is an Islamic cleric famous for going into Yemeni jails housing (non-violent) al Qaeda members/sympathizers and other Islamic militants and debating them on the Islamic ideological foundations of terrorism and al Qaeda's terrorist philosophy.

Successes

Hattar's work with prisoners has been widely deemed as successful as to date none of the reformed terrorists or sympathizers is believed to have returned to terrorism. Further, intelligence gleaned from one of his "turned" prisoners led to the arrest of a (if not the) most senior al Qaeda officer in Yemen, Mohammed al-Ahdal. al-Ahdal was captured in a surprise raid on his wedding celebration and was a top al Qaeda financier.

Criticisms

Hattar is not without criticism. U.S. officials have alleged that Yemen has released prisoners in Hattar's program who may have had links to the USS Cole bombing, but also note that it is an interesting soft approach to countering terrorism.

Sources

New American Media: In Yemen, a Benevolent Alternative to Osama bin Laden
Daily Telegraph: Yemen deploys new weapon in fight against al-Qaeda: the Koran
BBC: Yemen's new anti-terror strategy

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