The Legal and Legislative committee of Parliament approved on Wednesday a draft law that seeks to declare the religious commemoration of Ashoura as a public holiday for both the private and public sectors. To become law, the draft bill will have to be approved by the National Assembly when it resumes its sessions in late October. Assembly panels in the past have rejected such proposals.
Ashoura, which falls on the 10th of Muharram, the first month of the Muslim lunar calendar, is an occasion when Shiites commemorate the killing of Imam Al-Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), who is highly revered by Shiites as their third imam.