VIOLENT RELIGIOUS EXTREMISTS’ DERADICALIZATION: THE MALDIVES

A significant number of Maldivians have participated in Middle Eastern conflicts and upon their return, many display radicalized religious views. This thesis explores deradicalization programs in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and Singapore to gather successful approaches and propose an optimal design for the deradicalization of violent religious extremists in the Maldives. The study reveals that a successful deradicalization program requires a combination of several factors running concurrently to achieve the long-term goal of deradicalizing a violent extremist. The proposed Maldives’ Religious Rehabilitation Program (MRRP) is designed around four main concepts: psychological, religious, and social rehabilitation and an after-care process. Within the proposed design, these concepts are implemented through disengagement, reintegration, and after-care stages to achieve the program’s overall objective. The proposed MRRP allows those with violent religious ideologies to revisit their beliefs, revert to mainstream Islamic values, and reintegrate into society before completing their criminal sentence, and a part of their sentence would be suspended for those participants who successfully pass the program. This concept promotes repentance and rehabilitation for these individuals before they are punished for wrongdoings, which makes the program more attractive and enhances participants’ cooperation.

Department dc:contributor.department

Defense Analysis (DA)

Grantor dc:publisher

Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Athif, Ismail

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Tullius, John D.

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright is reserved by the copyright owner.

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10945/71972

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:calhoun.nps.edu:10945/71972