A township court on August 7 fined members of Ya Kha Taw Win charity group for collecting donations without a permit from the authorities.

Twenty members from the charity group were detained and questioned by authorities from No 1 police station in Sittwe while collecting money on August 6. The next day the court decided to fine 16 people MMK 10,000 each.

“The judge said that we can be sentenced to seven days in prison or receive a MMK 10,000 fine if we don’t get approval from the authorities [to collect donations]. We submitted an application for approval but haven’t received a response yet. That’s why we weren’t sentenced to prison. Instead, we just have to pay a fine,” said Daw Cho Cho, secretary of Ya Kha Taw Win charity group.

The charity group submitted the form to Sittwe Township’s General Administration Department officer in April, said Daw Soe Tin Yi, chair of the Ya Kha Taw Win charity group.

“We collected the money without having a permit because the number of people who need help is increasing. We received phone calls from people who we gave assistance to in the past and they said that they don’t have food and are facing health issues. When we heard that, we felt really bad for these people because they shouldn’t be going through such a horrid ordeal. That’s why we went outside and tried to collect donations,” she said.

The court also fined Arakan Alin Dagar activist group on July 22 for collecting donations without a permit.

The charity groups have accused the government of taking too long to grant permits once permits were submitted.