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Denmark offers some foreign fighters rehab without jail time

Denmark offers some foreign fighters rehab without jail time
30.10.2014 10:00
When Omar left home in 2013, his parents thought he was going to help out at a refugee camp for the victims of Syria's brutal civil war. But the soft-spoken Danish student wasn't on a humanitarian mission -- he had joined the ranks of a jihadist brigade fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

But Omar -- whose name has been changed to conceal his identity -- soon realized that what he was seeing on the battlefield was different from what he thought he'd signed up for."The place I was in, there was some chaos between different groups and there was violence between different groups," Omar, who is in his early twenties, told CNN. "I went there to fight Bashar al-Assad and not to fight other Islamic groups."Omar didn't want to be a part of that. Fed up with the infighting, he decided to return home.In 2013, a U.N.-sponsored panel declared Denmark the world's happiest place to live, citing a number of factors including life expectancy, social support and the freedom to make life choices. But the wealthy Scandinavian country is also becoming known for something altogether more worrying -- one of Europe's highest rates of jihadi fighters.At least 100 Danes are believed to have left the country to fight in Syria and Iraq. Of 25 countries CNN surveyed last month, only three had a higher proportion of Muslims leaving to fight.How Denmark will de-radicalize jihadis Denmark: Breeding ground for Jihadis?The country is facing a dilemma: what to do when these fighters come home?Aarhus, Denmark's second largest city, thinks it has the answer -- a controversial program for rehabilitating jihadis returning home from Syria that doesn't necessarily involve jail time.Here's how the program works: Any returning fighter is eligible for help getting a job, a house, an education, and psychological counseling -- just like any other Danish citizen.Those returning must be screened by police, and anyone found to have committed a crime will be put through the courts and possibly prison.The program does not try to change the fundamentalist beliefs of the returning fighters -- as long as they don't advocate violence.(CNN)Bakudaily.Az

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