Abdullah’s agenda

At a resort complex on the outskirts of Riyadh, an eclectic group of Saudi psychologists, religious scholars and security officers watch a video showing bearded men, some with wild manes of dark hair, disembarking from an aircraft. They are greeted by Sheikh Ahmed Gilan, an ebullient cleric who belies the stereotype of the country’s austere religious figures.

“You are being welcomed once again as sons of the kingdom,” the beaming Sheikh Ahmed says.

It is no ordinary homecoming. The video traces a group of Saudi extremists returning from US detention in Guantánamo Bay 18 months ago. After a spell in Saudi jails, they were transferred to the resort turned rehabilitation centre under the care of the doctors and academics watching the video, among them Sheikh Ahmed. The programme is part of a campaign by the kingdom to tackle the militant extremism that has so darkened its name.