Robert Lacey in the media

NOW on PBS: Rehab for Terrorists

Directed and Produced by Heidi Ewing / Rachel Grady.

“Is there a way to turn a terrorist into an upstanding citizen? In Saudia Arabia the answer involves a new job, a new house and a stay at a place they call ‘The Resort.’

I co-produced this film with Oscar-nominated LOKI Films (Jesus Camp) & Emmy-award winning Political Bytes Productions on the idea of rehabilitating terrorists.

The film shows the Saudis providing a private jumbo jet to bring inmates home from Guantanamo Bay, giving them a hero’s welcome, then sending them to a converted holiday resort to try to re-brainwash these hard line young men. It's a program that has been copied in other parts of the world – including by some of America’s forces in Iraq. The film follows a rehabilitation class in which the young prisoners are taught the ‘correct’ rules of Holy War.

Is this rehab program working, and can we trust the Saudis to protect themselves – and us – against the threat of Islamic extremism in the future?

Filmed partly in from a rehabilitation camp for terrorist suspects in Saudi Arabia, I think it makes compelling viewing on a controversial subject.