Deradicalisation and Disengagement from Terrorism and Threat to Identity: An Analysis of Former Jihadist Prisoners’ Accounts

Abstract

This qualitative study aims to explore the personal experience of former prisoners jailed for terrorism-related offenses in Indonesia who have reported or have been reported as having deradicalised or disengaged from violent extremism. The participants were interviewed about their experiences of deradicalisation and disengagement and the perceived implication of the experiences on their identities. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and analysed using a thematic analysis. The results show that most participants reported that they experience identity threats because of their status as former terrorist prisoners from former comrades as well as from the wider society. The threats were said to have impacted negatively upon their positive sense of self; thus, they invoked the strategies to cope with the threats. While participants’ strategies to cope with former jihadist comrades’ threats operated in the intrapersonal level, their strategies to alleviate the threats from wider society occur in the interpersonal level. This study found that most participants re-evaluate their past experiences positively and even utilised them as a part of their present identities primarily when they dealt with former comrades’ criticisms. To resist the wider society’s stigma and suspicion, they concealed their identity as a former terrorist prisoner while, at the same time, bolstered their personal characteristics in terms of interpersonal relationships.

Desistance, Disengagement, and Deradicalization: A Cross-Field Comparison

“…Only 20% of empirical works mention its potential as a “motivator to action” (Aly, 2014, p. 76) in disengagement processes (K. J. Harris, 2015; Syafiq, 2019; Weggemans & de Graaf, 2015). There is, nevertheless, no evident reason to assume that confidence in one’s capacity to walk away from violent extremism (Koehler, 2017; Kruglanski et al, 2019) or belief in one’s ability to make one’s own choices (Sieckelinck et al, 2019; Syafiq, 2019) is not a relevant factor for those individuals seeking to leave.…”

“…Even though identity change relates to a line of inquiry that is yet to be fully explored (K. J. Harris, 2015; Marsden, 2016), there seems to be an increasing recognition that identities are key to explaining the disengagement process (Ferguson & McAuley, 2020; Syafiq, 2019). This is also reflected in the prevalence of identity in empirical writings, which reaches almost 50%.…”

The Phoenix Model of Disengagement and Deradicalisation from Terrorism and Violent Extremism

“…Many individuals are highly conscious that their previous terrorist/extremist history will be seen negatively by the community around them and some studies highlight some evidence of stigma experienced by former extremists (e.g. Syafiq, 2019). While successful reintegration is the natural goal for most disen-…”

De-radicalization Programs in Muslim Countries: A Critical Analysis

“…Inspecting countless disengagement and de-radicalization initiatives also exposes different tactics when treating revolutionaries from diverse types of intemperate groups. For example, even though South East Asian and Middle Eastern programs focus on ideological and theological rehabilitation and retraining, European programs focus more on reintegration and emphasize social and economic assistance along with disengagement (Syafiq, 2019).…”