JEDDAH, 23 September 2004 — The Al-Qaeda terror network attracts young Saudis and then controls them by threats of jail and torture by security forces if they desert, two captured recruits told Channel One of Saudi Television. In a program entitled “Special Facts From Within the Cell” which aired late on Tuesday, Khaled Al-Farraj and Abdul Rahman Al-Roshoud said the militants used heavy psychological pressure to win over and maintain the loyalty of their members.
The terror suspects’ live confession marked the latest government offensive to eliminate public support for militants who have waged a 16-month campaign of violence in the Kingdom. Nearly 100 people have been killed and more than 200 have been injured in the violence.
“Most recruits do not know what is happening outside or who has been killed by their terror operations as they are not allowed to read newspapers or watch television,” Farraj said. He also pointed out that most clerics in the cell had no knowledge of Shariah and Islamic teachings. “If any recruited member receives a letter from his wife or family, the superiors will give him the letter only after reading it. They also will not allow any recruit to go out alone except with somebody who will prevent him from running away,” Farraj said. “Some recruits have personally told me of their desire to get out of the cell but they cannot as they think that the police will torture them,” Farraj said.
The program interspersed confessions from the two men with graphic pictures of mangled cars, buildings and bodies, taken at the scene of attacks in the Kingdom. During the show, Dr. Khaled Al-Khulaiwi and Dr. Turki Al-Atiyan of King Fahd Security Academy, Dr. Khaled Al-Quraishi of Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University, and Dr. Fahd Al-Khereiji of King Saud University commented on the confessions.
“The first time I entered the house, I felt danger around me. I felt sorry for others who came later. I was afraid for those who were recruited,” said Roshoud, a cousin of Abdullah Al-Rashoud, one of the most wanted terrorists.
Neither Roshoud nor Farraj are on the most wanted list of 26 militants.
Young men, mostly about 20, were recruited “because they lack sufficient knowledge of Shariah or the wisdom and experience to distinguish right from wrong,” Roshoud said.
Farraj said that as a first step a recruit might be asked to rent a car or a flat in his name for a militant cell. “The members of the cell then tell him: ‘That’s it. You’re involved, you’re a member of this cell. Either carry on with us or you are in danger of being arrested or killed’.” They would then paint a terrifying picture of the torture a militant could expect in jail if he surrendered, Roshoud said.
Rashoud said he himself became a member of the cell after renting a house and purchasing a car for the organization in his name.
Farraj was arrested in January on suspicion of involvement with militants. Six security men were shot and killed hours after his detention when they went to search his house. Farraj’s father, who accompanied the police, was also killed.
Roshoud said Al-Qaeda had two military objectives, one declared and the other secret. The first was to hit targets portrayed as “crusader centers” in Saudi Arabia. “They convince people that the land of the two holy mosques has been colonized by the crusaders,” he said. The “secret target” is Saudi security forces, he explained.
Suicide bombings at expatriate housing compounds in Riyadh killed dozens of foreigners in May and November last year. Bombers also hit a security headquarters in Riyadh this year. Al-Qaeda gunmen killed 22 people when they stormed offices and a residential compound in Alkhobar in May this year.
Rashoud said there was a three-member panel responsible for forging documents and IDs. Forged documents are used to rent houses and buy cars. “They select young people who are adventurous and want to prove themselves,” he pointed out.
Farraj said he received a proposal to “operate within Saudi Arabia” when he met members of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan which he visited after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. “Later I returned (to the Kingdom), and after contacting them, I joined the cells here,” he said.
The militants described the structure of the “cell” in Saudi Arabia. “There is a military council headed by Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin, followed by Faisal Al-Dakheel and Saleh Al-Aufi,” Farraj said.
Both Muqrin (No. 1 on the list of 26 most wanted terrorists) and Dakheel (No. 15 on the list) were killed in an ambush by security forces on June 18, shortly after their group decapitated US citizen Paul Johnson. Aufi remains at large.
Abu Assem, 18, who also appeared on the program said he had joined the cell after a classmate asked him “to gather intelligence about an officer in the secret police, because they torture the mujahedeen in prison.”
In June, King Fahd offered an amnesty to suspected extremists who turned themselves in within a month, saying it was the last chance for members of the “deviant groups” to mend their ways or face a merciless crackdown. Only six militants gave themselves up and among that group, only one was on the list of 26. Eleven on the list are still at large.
