BBC: A devout Shia Muslim has been convicted of child cruelty after forcing two boys to beat themselves during a religious ceremony, in an unprecedented case.
The jury at Manchester Crown Court found 44-year-old Syed Mustafa Zaidi guilty of two counts of child cruelty.
The boys, aged 13 and 15, were forced to beat themselves with a zanjeer whip, with five curved blades.
Zaidi, of Station Road, Eccles, Salford, also flogged himself during the ceremony in January.
The court heard the boys admit that they had wanted to beat themselves, but not under duress, and not with the curved blade whip.
The teenagers said that they had flogged themselves with a smaller whip from the age of six in Pakistan.
The Ashura ceremony takes place during Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar and commemorates the death of Husayn, a central figure in the Shia faith.
Zaidi admitted he had asked the boys if they wanted to beat themselves and allowed them to use the bladed whip.
He denied his actions were wrong, saying: "This is a part of our religion." Man Convicted over Shia Flogging >>> | August 27, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>
