The ministry said this was the 17th group of militants to be released after the center started counseling sessions for Al-Qaeda sympathizers six years ago.
The militants had earlier enjoyed short vacations of seven days during the spring, 10 days for Eid Al-Fitr and 15 days for Eid Al-Adha, the ministry said.
“Five of these individuals have been given admission at a university to continue their education while the remaining five will attend an advanced computer course at the center’s expense,” it added.
Saudi Arabia’s counseling program for Al-Qaeda militants has been widely praised due to its positive results. More than 3,000 youths have changed their ways after attending the program.
Bandar Al-Iban, president of the Human Rights Commission, visited the center in July 2010 and commended its role in convincing militants to abandon their ideology.
Al-Iban visited the center’s educational, cultural, sports and recreational facilities. “The center has achieved international recognition and many foreign officials have visited it to benefit from its programs,” the HRC chief said after visiting the center. Started in 2004, the center is manned by Islamic scholars, psychiatrists, sociologists and psychologists.
In a related development, the Saudi Red Crescent Authority said on Sunday that it would make arrangements for Saudi families in different regions to contact their relatives who are imprisoned outside the Kingdom by phone. The arrangement has been made in coordination with the International Red Cross Society’s office in Kuwait.
“The authority has been making this arrangement for Saudi families to contact their imprisoned relatives abroad since April 2008,” it said in a statement, adding that during the past two years it arranged 66 telephone calls and 12 video calls. The authority disclosed plans to arrange for Saudi families to visit their relatives in Iraqi prisons.
