Speaking at the forum, Abdul Aziz Al-Ghamdi, president of the university, said Muslims were the largest victims of terrorism in the world. He emphasized that Islam had nothing to do with terrorism.
Prince Bandar bin Abdullah bin Mishari, director of the National Information Center at the Ministry of Interior, opened the forum, which focused on the role of the Internet in combating terrorism and extremism.
The forum was organized by the Saudi university in association with the anti-terrorism team at the United Nations, Global Counterterrorism Center in the US and the German Ministry of Interior.
Prince Bandar underscored the Kingdom’s achievements in combating terrorism and extremism, referring to its pre-emptive strikes against terrorists. “We have foiled about 220 terrorist attacks in the Kingdom,” he said, emphasizing the Kingdom’s firm stand against terrorism. “We have become a model to follow in this field.”
He also pointed out that the Arab Anti-Terrorism Agreement, which was signed during a joint meeting of Arab interior and justice ministers in Egypt in 1998, was the first of its kind in the world. The Organization of the Islamic Conference and Gulf Cooperation Council have also signed similar agreements.
“We give top priority to security cooperation with other countries to fight terrorism and other crimes,” Prince Bandar said. He also referred to King Abdullah’s initiative for cultural dialogue, saying it reflects the Kingdom’s desire to establish global peace. He emphasized the need to conduct more studies on how to use the Internet to fight terror.
In his speech, Al-Ghamdi said: “Our university has given utmost importance to fighting terror, as 125 dissertations for master’s and doctorate degree programs as well as 254 training programs conducted by the university’s various colleges were related to terrorism.”
Al-Ghamdi said the forum would discuss different aspects of the subject, such as the use of the Internet for terrorism and how to prevent recruitment of terrorists and the spread of terrorist ideologies through the Internet.
It will also highlight the role of the civil society, the private sector and the media in combating terrorism and enlighten the public on the possible negative effects associated with the use of the Internet.
He called for regional and international cooperation to fight all forms of terrorism.
The two-day forum is attended by delegates from Yemen, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Algeria, Oman, Qatar, Lebanon, Egypt, the US, Spain, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Canada, Norway, Austria, France, Italy, Turkey, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Sweden, Britain, Pakistan, China, India and Afghanistan in addition to delegates from the OIC, GCC, European Union and the Russian Federation.
