LONDON (AFP) - Two teenagers were forced to flog themselves until their backs bled during a Muslim ceremony to commemorate the death of the spiritual leader of Shia Muslims, a British court heard Tuesday.
One of them, who was 13 at the time of the alleged incident, accused Syed Mustafa Zaidi of forcing him and a 15-year-old to flog themselves with a zanjeer, which has a wooden handle with chains and five blades attached.
Zaidi denies two counts of cruelty, but the teenager said the 44-year-old forced the pair to engage in the ceremony despite knowing that it was prohibited for under-16s.
“We said ‘We don’t want to do it’,” he told Manchester Crown Court, describing the zanjeer zani as a “handle and chains stuck to the bunch of knives, you have to swing it and hit your back. It’s for sad thing.” MORE>>>
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