ABHA — The Interior Ministry earlier this month detected a series of violations involving the collection of donations committed by nine offices of the International Islamic Relief Organization in Asir Province, informed sources told local daily Al-Watan. The sources said the offices have violated the rules when they erected billboards asking people to make donations in cash and kind to assist orphans, support poor families, provide winter needs for Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey and build mosques inside the Kingdom and abroad. The security forces considered the actions of IIROSA, an affiliate of the Muslim World League (MWL), to be in gross violation of the terms and conditions of an agreement signed by the Saudi government with the MWL prohibiting the collection of donations inside the host country. Under the terms of the agreement, IIROSA is prohibited from publicly asking for donations in cash or kind or making advertisements to this effect but is allowed to accept them if they are given voluntarily by donors. IIROSA is also banned from putting boxes outside its offices for donation collections. The sources said the governorate has warned IIROSA's offices in the province against asking the people to make donations and to stick to the rules and regulations governing the process of collections. While discussing the rules controlling the collection of donations last year, the Shoura Council said the rules were not aimed at causing difficulties to the charity organizations but to organize the process itself. The council said the rules also aimed to prevent scam operations by people asking for donations for charity purposes only to keep the money for themselves.
