One of the key factors that has united leaders of various terrorist organizations is radicization that began in Middle Eastern prisons during the 1950’s until present day.  Many of these prisons have even been considered indoctrination centers. Founders of the violent Islamic jihadism way of thinking, al-Qaeda and its affiliates, and ISIS have all had stints in prisons were they were influenced in these violent ideals.

Al-Qaeda, the terrorist organization responsible for the September 11th attacks, was heavily influenced by one of the most notorious Islamic extremists, Sayyid Qutb. Qutb was an Islamic scholar who joined Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950’s. At this point in time Qutb was a more moderate thinker, but was eventually jailed simply for being a member of the Brotherhood. While imprisoned Qutb was beaten and tortured for years by Egyptian prison guards. The brutal treatment he and those like him received in these Egyptian prisons heavily changed his moderate views about Islamic societies to a more radicalized view. He no longer believed these Middle Eastern governments and their leaders were following the true path of Islam. And if you were a Muslim who followed these governments, then you were not truly a Muslim. Qutb was executed in 1966, but the writings he developed within those prisons would go on to influence radical thinkers for decades to come.

These writings were so influential, Qutb is often called the grandfather of Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden was the founder and leader of al-Qaeda, although his second in command may have been even more influenced by Qutb than Bin Laden himself.

At that point in time Osama Bin Laden’s second in command, and now current leader of al-Qaeda, was a man by the name of Ayman al-Zawahiri. Al-Zawahiri was born to a very prominent family in Egypt, and would later become a physician just like many in his family. By age 15 in 1966, the year Qutb was executed, al-Zawahiri had joined the group that Qutb was a member of, the Muslim Brotherhood. Upon Qutb’s death, and man that al-Zawahiri greatly looked up to, he started to get the inspiration to start his own jihadi organization, Al-Jihad. In 1981 al-Zawahiri was arrested following the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. Members of Zawahiri’s Al-Jihad group were responsible for Sadat’s assassination. Zawahiri was tortured, beaten, shocked, and attacked by dogs while in prison. Just as his inspiration Sayyid Qutb was beaten and tortured in an Egyptian prison to further his radicalization, so to was al-Zawahiri.

Al-Zawahiri was then released in 1986 and he moved to Pakistan to serve as a doctor for the mujahideen warriors fighting the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan. While in Pakistan he met a young, wealthy, jihadi war hero. This young man’s name was Osama Bin Laden. Al-Zawahiri convinced Bin Laden that all of the Middle East needed regime change and not just Afghanistan. The two would then go on to create Al-Qaeda. And al-Zawahiri would be the mastermind behind the September 11th attacks.

Not only were they the masterminds behind that attack, but also helped to fund and influence another young man who was radicalized in prison just as al-Zawahiri himself once was. This young man was named Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Al-Zarqawi would go on to lay the groundwork for one of the Middle East and the United States’ biggest problems, ISIS.

For a little background, al-Zarqawi grew up a common street thug and petty criminal in Jordan. He was not overly religious and often did things that went against Islam, like having arms covered in tattoos. He went to fight the soviets in 1989 at the end of the war. This was the same location where bin Laden and al-Zawahiri were also fighting. After the war he returned to Jordan and in 1994 started a small group with other former Jordanian fighters in Afghanistan along with a preacher he met there, Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi. Shortly thereafter he and his group were arrested for plotting to bomb an Israeli outpost. They were eventually sent to the notorious Jordanian Al-Jafr prison.

Al-Jafr was a prison that held some of the countries most violent criminals and was known for its harsh treatment and torture. Due to that fact, the prison was closed in 1979. In the late 90’s Jordan was having trouble with a bunch of anti-government inmates causing trouble in other prisons. They decided to open up one wing of Al-Jafr in 1998, and isolate all of these men together. This was once again a problem that led to radicalization. These prisoners were so influential that they converted other convicts, and were often able to sway prison guards and doctors.

Arguably the most influential was the al-Maqdisi, al-Zarqawi’s mentor. Maqdisi was a mild mannered preacher, who was also an influential author. He had written books inspired by Qutb, another gentleman radicalized in prison that was referenced earlier. Maqdisi was able to convert Zarqawi to this Qutb like way of thinking, and Zarqawi served as his muscle and body guard while in prison. This conversion led to Zarqawi studying more and memorizing the Quran. Even to the point he took a razor blade while in prison and shaved off layer by layer the skin where he had tattoos.

In 1999 King Hussein of Jordan passed away. At that time current King of Jordan, his son, Abdullah II bin al-Hussein came to power. One of King Abdullah’s first orders of business was to make peace with the Islamists. He met with the Muslim Brotherhood, and agreed to free some of their prisoners. Also in long standing tradition in Jordan when a new leader comes to power, he granted amnesty to non-violent prisoners. This gives the government a clean slate to start making good relationships with various organizations. This list of prisoners to be released grew exponentially to 2,500 names. Including, you guessed it, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. (along with Maqdisi). The government of Jordan instantly learned the mistake that some violent former Afghan fighters had been added to the list, but at that point the mistake was to late to correct.

Upon release Zarqawi traveled back to Afghanistan with a bigger goal in mind: to meet with Osama Bin Laden to start his own jihadi training camp. Bin Laden snubbed Zarqawi for weeks, until finally sending one of his officials to meet with him. Al-Qaeda did not want to him to start a camp in Afghanistan, as they already had a strong presence there, in North Africa, and in the Persian Gulf. Although, they did not have a presence in the Levant (the Jordan, Syria, Iraq area). They agreed to give Zarqawi some funds to start a training camp if he would set if up in his native area.

Zarqawi returned to Jordan and started a small organization called Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad. Eventually looking for a better location to house his organization, he moved it to the remote mountainous area of northeastern Iraq in the early 2000’s. In 2004, Zarqawi’s group pledged alligence to Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. They changed the name of the group to Al-Qaeda in Iraq. This group would eventually go on to become what we now know as ISIS in 2013.

One of the most notorious prisons in the Middle East was that of Camp Bucca. Camp Bucca was a U.S ran prison in Iraq along the border with Kuwait that held some of the areas most violent extremists. This prison opened shortly after the 2003 invasion of Iraq and remained opened for a number of years.

The current extremist organization problem that we are facing in the Middle East is combating ISIS (ISIL, Daesh). At Camp Bucca, 9 of ISIS’s senior leaders spent time behind bars there. This includes the current leader of ISIS, their chief spokesman, the deputy leader, the senior military leader, and the leader of all foreign fighters. While some of these individuals may have been radicalized before they were sent to Camp Bucca, they certainly met, strategized, and furthered their networks and recruitment while there. All of these individuals where housed together, grouped together based upon religious sect. Only those already known as being violent or a terrorist were separated from the group. Many have since described this prison as a “Terrorist University”. At one point Camp Bucca held 24,000 inmates. 24,000.

After incidents of reported torture, mistreatment of prisoners, and photos of naked prisoners at U.S run Abu Ghraib prison, the U.S. holding of Iraqi prisoners was looked upon unfavorably. This included Camp Bucca. With this unfavorable public opinion and the withdraw of most U.S. Troops from Iraq, Camp Bucca among others was being shut down. Prisoners were being released monthly. One prisoner released was Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He is now the current leader of ISIS.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is the caliph of ISIS’s self proclaimed worldwide caliphate, and took the name “Abu Bakr” after the very first caliph in the year 632. Al-Baghdadi is an Iraqi who holds a masters degree and doctorate in Islamic studies from Islamic University in Baghdad. He was known growing up for being very religious, shy, and reserved. Also, he spent four years(debated how long, still classified by U.S..) in Camp Bucca. In 2004 al-Baghdadi was captured and arrested in raid where he was visiting a friend who was on an American wanted list. His time in Camp Bucca helped to radicalized him where he was daily in contact with former military leaders of Saddam Hussein who were ousted from power, and hard line radical terrorists who where placed in prison after the American invasion in 2003. He rose in influence in prison with his great knowledge of Islam to the point where he led prayers, preached sermons, and taught classes while in prison.

When al-Baghdadi was released a number of years later, he especially knew how important prisoners where to his Islamic State organization he would help create. As described previously, his time in Camp Bucca would introduce him to many of his deputy’s and military leaders. Because ISIS knew how vitally important these “Jihadi University” prisons where, they launched a campaign in 2012 entitled the “Breaking the Walls” Campaign.

Al-Baghdadi saw this new campaign as a great way to recruit new followers. Therefore the Islamic State launched highly coordinated attacks against several prisons in Iraq. These prisons were handed over to Iraqi control in 2010 from the Americans. Also keep in mind while lots of prisoners like al-Baghdadi where released, the most extreme death row inmates where handed over to the Iraqis. These prisons were often poorly run, inadequately secured, and staffed by those easily bribed. The Iraqi’s ran the prisons in much of the same way where hard line extremists daily co-mingled with other prisoners. In 2012 ISIS launched coordinated simultaneous attacks using suicide bombers, rockets, and two car bombs. In total they killed over 120 guards. These attacks led to over 1,200 prisoners freed from the previously described Abu Ghraib (including the top military commander of ISIS) near Mosul, and 300 prisoners from a prison near Tikrit. Many of the individuals that were broken out are now the most hardened killers and master bomb makers that ISIS has. Not only was the Islamic State able to build a fighting force, this campaign also completely disrupted the justice system in Iraq, which in turn helped to further destabilize the whole representative democracy of Iraq. Without a stable justice system and a fear of consequences for crimes and the enforcement of law and order, a democracy can not survive. We are still seeing that problem occurring in 2017 Iraq.

In conclusion, you can see how the Middle Eastern prison system has played a part in terrorism as a whole. From influencing some of the early radical thinkers who messages are still used, to helping to radicalize some of the leaders of the most violent terrorist organizations in the world. The history of prisons and terrorists is a story that has been interwoven over the last several decades. We will continue to see this be a problem until some of these countries become more stable and can start to provide a sense of justice, law, and order.

Sources:
Bergen, Peter, “The Longest War”, 2011
Danahar, Paul, “The New Middle East, 2015
Hersh, Seymour, “Torture at Abu Ghraib”, The New Yorker
McBride, Michael, “The Terror Within”, opedspace
McCants, William, “The Believer”, Brookings
McCoy, Terrance, “How the Islamic State evolved in an American Prison”, The Washington Post
Peritz, Aki, “The Great Iraqi Jail Break”, Foreign Policy
Al-Salhy, Suadad, “Al-Qaeda says it freed 50 inmates in Jailbreak”, Reuters
Till, Brian, “A Note on Egyptian Torture”, The Atlantic
Warrick, Joby, “Black Flags”, 2015