Clampdown seeks to ensure legal measures are followed
By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
Manama: Bahrain has warned mosque imams or preachers against allowing fund-raising for alleged crises or natural disasters in other countries.
Unlicensed begging by people claiming they are from war-hit countries or conflict zones is not allowed either, a source from the Sunni Endowments has said.
“There is a mechanism to raise funds in mosques or to place donation boxes in shops or in malls that includes coordination with the Ministry of Labour and Social Development, and any civil society group or charitable society that wants to raise money must submit a formal request to the ministry,” the source said, Bahraini daily Al Ayam reported on Sunday.
“The ministry then looks into the request and decides whether to give the permission to the society to go ahead with the fund-raising plan.”
The source added that ordinary foreign nationals had approached the ministry to raise funds, but their requested were turned down “because they were not legal.”
In 2014, Bahrain banned raising funds without an official permission from the authorities.
Under the legislation, legal entities that could apply to raise funds had to be either registered or licensed and the reasons for raising money had to be in compliance with their missions and the objectives for which they were established.
The fund-raising regulations stipulated that “legal entities and ordinary people are banned from receiving or sending funds that support military and paramilitary groups, incite racial, nationalistic, religious or sectarian hatred or fund non-governmental organisations, political parties or groups.”
The regulations also banned “ordinary people and legal entities from receiving donations from abroad unless a request is submitted to the relevant ministry specifying the type, origin and purpose of the donated funds.”
© Gulf News 2017
