TIMESONLINE: A devout Muslim encouraged two teenage boys to flog themselves until their backs were covered in bloody cuts, a jury was told yesterday.
Syed Mustafa Zaidi, 44, a Shia Muslim, was celebrating the traditional Ashura festival, a ritual act of lamentation commemorating the slaughter of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Husayn, and his followers in the 14th century. It involves Shia Muslims flailing themselves with a zanjeer zani, an implement with a wooden handle and five chains attached to sharp knives. The men whip themselves to recreate the suffering of the martyrs.
After flogging himself, Mr Zaidi was said to have forced the two boys, aged 15 and 13, to join in the annual ceremony that took place last January at a community mosque in Levenshulme, Manchester. The boys were left with bloody cuts across their backs.
It is the first case of its kind, involving the religious practices of Shia Muslims, to be brought to trial in Britain. Mr Zaidi denies two counts of child cruelty amounting to “wilful ill-treatment”. ’Boys Forced into Muslim Flogging Ritual’ >>> By Russell Jenkins | August 19, 2008
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