Jail nicer than home, say Saudi terrorists

Several jailed terror suspects have appeared on Saudi national television promoting prison life, with one – on the list of 26 most wanted Saudis – saying his jailers were nicer than his parents.

The documentary from al-Hayer reform penitentiary, outside Riyadh, was another attempt by authorities to encourage wanted militants to surrender and to counter propaganda that those who give themselves up are mistreated in jail.

“I swear to God, they (jailers) are nicer than our parents,” said Othman Hadi Al Maqboul al-Amri, who surrendered in June under a one-month royal amnesty offer in the summer.

The government offered a month-long amnesty that expired in July to encourage wanted militants to surrender. Authorities pledged not to seek the death penalty against those who did, but only four men turned themselves in.

Saudi authorities have aired militant confessions and interviews with fathers of wanted men as part of a public relations campaign to rally the public against radicals who have carried out attacks inside the kingdom that have killed Saudis, other Arabs and Westerners in Saudi Arabia.