Gel-mali ritual in Ashura in Iran's Khorramabad

Gel-mali ritual – a religious ritual performed on Ashura, the 10th of Muharram on which the third Shia Imam, Imam Hussein (AS) was martyred – took place in the western Iranian province of Lorestan, on July 28, 2023. During the ritual, the individuals cover their bodies, faces and cloths with mud to symbolically express sympathy with the family of Imam Hussein (AS) over his martyrdom in Karbala in 680 CE. (IRNA photos/Farib Tarhani)