Excerpt:
A British court has found a devout Muslim guilty of cruelty for forcing two teenagers to flog themselves until their backs bled during a Shia religious ceremony.
A jury at Manchester Crown Court convicted Syed Mustafa Zaidi, 44, on two counts of child cruelty over the incidents, during a ceremony in January to commemorate the death of the spiritual leader of Shia Muslims.
The victims, who were 13 and 15 at the time, were forced to beat themselves with a zanjeer zani, which has a wooden handle with chains and five blades attached. Zaidi, who denied cruelty, also beat himself during the ceremony.