Clarification on blood money – Convicted inside Kuwait only

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KUWAIT CITY, April 9: “Accepting the implementation of blood money requests and related compensation from charity societies is limited only to those convicted inside Kuwait, with the exception of Kuwaitis who are convicted outside the country”, reports Aljarida daily quoting informed sources as saying. This was said after field inspection teams formed by the Ministry of Social Affairs to monitor and remove donation-collecting violations during the holy month of Ramadan had spotted a tent that was erected in one of the areas within Jahra Governorate, bearing a large poster that called for the collection of KD 200,000 to be used as blood money for a non-Kuwaiti (Gulf Arab) who was convicted of murder in a neighboring country.

According to the sources, as soon as this tent was spotted, which was in violation of the procedures and controls for collecting donations to pay blood money and the compensation associated with it, the ministry contacted the Kuwait Municipality to remove the tent. Also, the Ministry of Interior was addressed to take the necessary measures against those responsible for it, by summoning them and making them sign a declaration not to repeat it in order to avoid further punitive measures. The sources said, “According to the ministerial decision issued regarding the procedures and controls for collecting donations to pay blood money, accepting blood money requests and related compensation from charity societies is limited only to those convicted inside Kuwait, with the exception of Kuwaitis convicted outside the country, provided that the approval of the authorities is obtained in the concerned country where its system accepts the principle of blood money, with an official authority to receive the amount, as personal accounts are not accepted”.

They highlighted that the door for accepting blood money donations is open to citizens only but it must be treated as a charity project to which the applicable terms and regulations for charitable work are applied, and under the umbrella of a charitable organization recognized by the Ministry of Social Affairs in accordance with the fundraising regulation, provided that it does not violate the laws and decisions issued by the Council of Ministers in this regard.

Projects
On a different subject, the cooperative sector in the ministry, represented by the Department of Cooperative Development, is currently studying the creation of a section for small projects incubated by cooperative societies distributed over all regions of the country, with the aim of taking care of everything related to project owners, seeking to improve their work, and overcome the challenges and obstacles they face.

The sources affirmed the ministry’s keenness to expand the circle of entrepreneurs in cooperative societies with the aim of relieving pressure on the government sector, and directing citizens to work in the private sector. It aims to create this section, which will be entrusted with facilitating the entry of project owners into cooperative societies in coordination with the boards of directors, so that they can market their products within the cooperative societies with ease and without any obstacles. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Social Affairs announced the allocation of a hotline No. 66027725 to receive complaints about violations related to fundraising throughout the month of Ramadan, in mosques, malls and other places.

It affirmed that this step comes in order to preserve the reputation of charitable work, and to tighten more control over the operations of collecting donations. The ministry explained that the hotline will be available around the clock to receive any complaints related to collection violations, especially cash donations, which is prohibited in all its forms in all projects. According to the sources, the hotline began receiving some complaints as of Wednesday, and they are being verified after which necessary measures regarding the violations will be taken.

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