Career
Hattar"s work with prisoners has been widely deemed as successful as to date none of the reformed terrorists or sympathizers is believed to have returned to terrorism. Further, intelligence gleaned from one of his "turned" prisoners led to the arrest of a (if not the) most senior al Qaeda officer in Yemen, Mohammed al-Ahdal. al-Ahdal was captured in a surprise raid on his wedding celebration and was a top al Qaeda financier. Hattar is not without criticism.
United States. officials have alleged that Yemen has released prisoners in Hattar"s program who may have had links to the United States Ship Cole bombing, but also note that it is an interesting soft approach to countering terrorism.
