Rehab in Riyadh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LM92gMXQSrc

Watch part two

As Barack Obama, the US president, ponders the forthcoming closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention centre and how to scale down his country’s involvement in Iraq one question is likely to be on his mind: What to do with the detainees held by the US on suspicion of involvement with al-Qaeda and its associates?

The Saudi Arabian nationals among them may soon be heading to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, released into a government-run rehabilitation programme aimed at diverting supporters of ideologically motivated violence onto a different path.

Since its opening in 2007 the project has won plaudits from those who see dialogue as the most constructive way of healing religious and political divisions.

More recently however there is evidence that several of its graduates have fled Saudi Arabia and re-embraced violence. Is the Saudi initiative still valid or are critics right to doubt its true effectiveness?

Filmakers Ginny Hill and Marie-Laure Baggilioni have been behind the scenes at the Riyadh centre to find out.

Swine Flu

The H1N1 flu strain caused panic across the world

Last week the world awoke to the alarming news that a new influenza virus is spreading across the globe with the potential to kill millions of us.

The fear has eased a little since then as more became known about the flu strain, known as H1N1 or swine flu.

Tens of thousands of people die from regular flu every year, not to mention other diseases such as HIV/Aids, malaria and TB which kill millions in the developing world.

This new flu strain is, so far at least, proving milder than expected but whether things stay that way, or the virus becomes more deadly in the months ahead, it is becoming clear that some of the world’s poorest countries have to be better armed against the threat.

Should rich Western nations be taking more account of what a flu pandemic could mean for the developing world?

Samah El Shahat is joined by Dr Gregory Pappas, a professor of Community Health Sciences at the Aga Khan University and currently with Interaction, a network of international NGOs, and by Dr Ashraf Grimwood, a doctor working with Aids patients in South Africa.

This episode of People & Power aired from Wednesday, April 6, 2009.