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Join on Telegram Denver – In the fight against extreme Jihadists, Morocco has long held an international reputation as a bastion of moderate Islam and a counter-terrorism bulwark in the Arab world.
Now, with the failure of Western nations to defeat radical Islamism in places like Iraq, and most recently Afghanistan, many in the west are reconsidering previously held notions on counterterrorism strategies.
Despite possessing a highly effective Judicial police unit responsible for the prevention of over 500 terror operations and the dismantling of over 200 terror cells since 2002, the country’s attitude towards convicted jihadists sharply contrasts with that of many Western countries.
In a 14-minute interview on award-winning American talkshow host Joseph John Pagliarulo’s popular Joe Pags Show on August 31, Moroccan security expert Mohamed Salah Tamek spelled out Morocco’s multilateral approach, putting a particular emphasis on why the country continues to successfully counter radicalism within its borders.
Uprooting extremist discourse
Tamek, who is the Delegate General of Corrections and Reintegration for Morocco (DGAPR), began by highlighting Morocco’s unique interdisciplinary strategy of addressing the root causes of jihadi recruitment. As Salah points out, much of the radicalization that occurs in other nations begins with the teachings of local Imams.
According to the DGAPR official, Morocco’s security officials have accordingly recognized the influence of the imams since at least the 1990s. As a result, Morocco has trained over 60,000 Imams throughout the country, ensuring that the religious leaders are teaching their local congregations moderate Islam.
The main goal of this approach is to identify and discourage interpretations of Islamic doctrine that encourage participation in extremist groups.
Morocco has taken a holistic approach in addressing the importance of education in eliminating radical thoughts, Tamek argued. He pointed out that the country’s officials have steadily addressed elements like education textbooks and religious fatwas, in order to approach the issue from both an Islamic and secular perspective.
Tamek’s position as the director of Morocco’s prison authority gives him a unique perspective on incarcerated jihadists in Morocco’s prisons. According to Tamek, unlike other Arab countries, Morocco is unique in that it has not had an inmate relapse into extremist behavior in the country upon release.
One reason for this, he argued, is that Morocco employs psychologists and “prominent professors” of religion to talk with inmates and to understand and root out their adherence to fundamentalist interpretations of the Islamic faith. Tamek also described Morocco’s “socioeconomic” focus in rehabilitation.
Reformation and social integration
The country assures that formerly convicted jihadists are given the opportunity to work and participate in society after their release, minimizing social exclusion while optimizing these individuals’ chances of a smooth socio-economic reintegration.
This strategy of reconciliation is a stark contrast to the heavy-handed and often violent approaches taken by security officials in other countries.
While Tamek noted the dangers of many jihadists utilizing the Islamic concept of Taqiyah to pose as “reformed” while still holding dangerous beliefs, he added that Morocco’s approach looks to support convicted extremists through reformation and not punishment.
The DGAPR chief contrasted Morocco’s approach to jihadists with Germany’s. Germany, a Western democratic nation, has paradoxically harbored several proponents of radical Islamic thought, he explained.
Under what Tamek appeared to characterize as a misguided view of religious tolerance, Germany has sheltered radical individuals – most notably Mohammed Hajib and four members of the “Hamburg cell” that would go on to carry out the deadly 9/11 attacks in the US.
In his interview, Tamek criticized Germany’s approach to these controversial individuals and its paradoxical support of the Polisario Front in Western Sahara.
Pointing out that the self-style self-determination Front includes radical, ISIS-affiliated elements in its ranks, Tamek questioned Germany’s support of such a controversial group despite the US’ support of Morocco’s autonomy in the region.
As the western world evaluates its strategy in the war against radical Islam, it remains to be seen whether the well-documented ineffectiveness of the punitive approach will lead many western countries to revise their counterterrorism tradition and perhaps adopt Morocco’s holistic, deradicalization-based approach.
