Muscat: The Public Prosecution of Oman as part of public awareness campaign has announced that inviting people to donate or conducting any act of collecting donations from the public within the country or from abroad is not allowed.
The statement said regardless of the methods used to collect the donations or anything collected under name of Zakat, Sadakah or otherwise, without obtaining permission from the appropriate authority, is an offense punishable with imprisonment for three months in addition to a fine of RO 600 as well as confiscation of the donation collected.
The law was introduced and added to the Omani Penal Code in 2018 with two articles to protect citizens and expatriates in the country. The Ministry of Social Development is in charge of approving all charity initiatives in the Sultanate.
Collecting donation without prior permission can even lead to a punishment of one-year imprisonment and a fine of RO 2,000.
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