Man sentenced over Shia flogging

A devout Shia Muslim has been given a suspended prison sentence for forcing two boys to beat themselves during a religious ceremony.

A jury at Manchester Crown Court found Syed Mustafa Zaidi, 44, guilty of two counts of child cruelty last month.
The boys, aged 13 and 15, were forced to beat themselves with a zanjeer whip, with five curved blades.

Zaidi, of Station Road, Eccles, was given a 26-week sentence, suspended for 12 months.
He was also prohibited from allowing or encouraging anyone under the age of 16 to beat themselves during the next 12 months.
Judge Robert Atherton, at Manchester Crown Court, said: "I reject the suggestion that they were forced to participate, although I consider it likely that the fervour of events is also likely to have affected their wish to participate."
The boys both received multiple lacerations to their backs, mainly superficial, with several deeper cuts caused by the bladed whip.

Zaidi also flogged himself during the Ashura ceremony, which commemorates the death of Husayn - a central figure in the Shia faith - in January this year.
He admitted he allowed the boys to use the bladed whip, but denied his actions were wrong, saying: "This is a part of our religion."
Judge Atherton said that the jury's verdict was "not a comment" on the Ashura ceremony.


"No-one should misinterpret it as being such," he said.
"You must realise that the law recognises that children and young persons may wish to take part in some activities which it considers they should not.

"It is sometimes expressed as protecting themselves from themselves.
"Your wrongful act was providing the means by which they were able to participate."
He said Zaidi ignored a decision by mosque elders that under-16s could not participate in the ceremony.

Some countries have banned self-flagellation with the zanjeer zani. It has been substituted by men beating their bare chests. In Indonesia and some other countries, young children are formally encouraged to use a smaller version of the implement.

Zaidi denied his actions were wrong, telling the court: "This is a part of our religion."

The case was unprecedented - the first of its kind to be prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service in England and Wales.