WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES

Shiite Muslim men in a number of countries mark the holy day of Ashura (Picture: Reuters)

Blood pours down the bare backs of young men pictured marking the celebration of Ashura.

Images taken in Iraq, Pakistan and Bahrain show the self-flagellation ritual, which some Shiite Muslims take part in to mourn the death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson.

Bladed chains and swords are used during the public processions, with many of the mourners appearing badly injured.

In one image, a bloodied man is carried away on a stretcher after fainting. Another shows men beating their chests raw inside a mosque.


Muslims around the world mark Ashura every year, which falls during the first month of the Islamic calendar.

A man gashes his forehead with a sword during a ceremony marking Ashura in Najaf, Iraq (Picture: Reuters)

Ashura is commemorated more by Shiites, who believe the Prophet’s son-in-law Ali is their first imam – a divinely-appointed leader.



Husayn ibn Ali, Ali’s youngest son, was killed in the Battle of Karbala, in modern-day Iraq, in 680AD.

Few take part in self-flagellation, which is seen by those who take part as a way of washing away sins.

The controversial practice divides Shiite Muslims, some of whom instead choose to give blood.

For Sunni Muslims, Ashura also marks the day Musa (Moses) fasted in gratitude for God’s liberation of the Israelites.

A Shiite Muslim man flagellates during the religious procession ahead of Ashura, in Lahore, Pakistan (Picture: Reuters)

Shiite Muslims observe the holy month of Muharram, the climax of which is the Ashura festival marking the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed (Picture: EPA)

Men beat their chests at a mosque during a religious festival marking Ashura in the holy city of Kerbala, Iraq (Picture: Reuters)

Men flagellate during a ceremony marking Ashura in Najaf, Iraq, September 10, 2019 (Picture: Reuters)

A man who fainted from bleeding after tapping his forehead with a sword is carried on a stretcher during a ceremony marking Ashura in Najaf, Iraq (Picture: Reuters)

Men react as they gash their foreheads with swords and beat themselves during a ceremony marking Ashura in Najaf, Iraq (Picture: Reuters)

Shiite Muslims flagellate themselves during a religious festival marking Ashura in Manama, Bahrain (Picture: Reuters)

Men flagellate themselves during a ceremony marking Ashura in the holy city of Kerbala, Iraq (Picture: Reuters)