IRAQ: WORSHIPPERS TAKE PART IN THE ASHURA CEREMONY FLOGGING THEMSELVES OUTSIDE SHI'ITE HOLY SHRINE IN FIRST CEREMONY SINCE FALL OF SADDAM HUSSEIN

Record ID: 584922

  • Title: IRAQ: WORSHIPPERS TAKE PART IN THE ASHURA CEREMONY FLOGGING THEMSELVES OUTSIDE SHI'ITE HOLY SHRINE IN FIRST CEREMONY SINCE FALL OF SADDAM HUSSEIN
  • Date: 23rd February 2004
  • Summary: (W5) KERBALA, IRAQ (FEBRUARY 23, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS OF MEN WALKING IN PROCESSION, FLOGGING THEIR BACKS WITH CHAINS ATTACHED TO A WOODEN STICK CALLED ZINJEEL (CHAIN) OUTSIDE IMAM HUSSEIN SHRINE 0.04 2. VARIOUS OF MEN BANGING DRUMS AND FLOGGING THEMSELVES OUTSIDE SHRINE (3 SHOTS) 0.31 3. WIDE OF MAN PLAYING INSTRUMENT AND MEN FLOGGING THEMSELVES 0.37 4. SLV WOMEN WATCHING 0.43 5. VARIOUS OF WORSHIPPERS FLOGGING THEMSELVES , WALKING INTO SHRINE 1.00 6. WIDE OF CEREMONY 1.05 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 9th March 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KERBALA, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAE2RHJ2FJX7DCJ1EAXN9QCP7S4
  • Story Text: Iraqis take part in Ashura ceremony.



    Iraqi Shi'ites in Kerbala on Monday (February 23, 2004)
    continued to commemorate the deaths of two of the grandsons
    of the Prophet Mohammad 1,400 years ago in the religious
    Ashura ceremony.

    This year's ceremony is the first since the fall of
    Saddam Hussein, a member of Iraq's Sunni minority, who only
    allowed the anniversary to be marked under tight controls,
    if at all.

    Men flogging their backs with chains attached to wooden
    sticks walked the streets of Kerbala.

    The ceremony will intensify daily, leading up to the
    culmination of Ashura on the tenth day.

    By flogging their backs, the men and young boys relive
    the pain suffered by Imam al-Hussein and Imam al-Abbas
    the grandsons of the prophet Mohammad - and their 72
    followers.

    Imam al-Hussein was killed by rival Ummayad Caliph
    Yazid in a battle in Kerbala some 1.400 years ago after a
    10-day siege. On the 10th of Muharram (October 10, 680
    AD), Imam al-Hussein and all his followers were slaughtered
    by Yazid's army.

    Yazid became the sixth caliph, ruling from Damascus.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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