Bahrain warns against unlicensed fundraising
Bahrain criminalised fundraising without explicit permission from authorities in 2014
Manama: Bahrain has warned mosque imams or preachers against fundraising or allowing fundraising for conflict-torn countries.
It also warned against beggars claiming to be from war-torn countries.
“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 or not to grant permission to the society.”
Several requests by foreign nationals to engage in fundraising activity have been rejected by authorities.
Bahrain criminalised fundraising without an official licence in 2014.
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 fundraising 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.”
