An Iraqi man hid in a compartment inside a wall for 22 years. He only went outside once.

The chamber where he says he spent almost all his adult life — he is 49 — measures a yard wide by about seven feet long. To enter, he must negotiate a trap door barely wide enough for a slender person to squeeze through.

Inside, Sayed fashioned a terraced living space from dirt he excavated when digging a well — it is located at one end of the compartment. At the other, there's a toilet, placed somewhat higher. In between, he built a dirt platform to sit on. The lowest point is the space where he could stand and even bathe. A vent lets in air from the roof and a pipe drains water outside.

A peephole no bigger than a finger's diameter was Sayed's window on the world. All he could see was the inner courtyard of his farmhouse and now not even that is visible. A date palm grew up to obscure the view. "I witnessed my brother's wedding from here," he said. "I didn't dare go out to celebrate."

On one wall, he hung the necessities of his monastic life: a light bulb, for when there was electricity, a kerosene lamp, for when there was not; paintbrushes of various sizes to dust himself off; a toothbrush, which has not been useful for some time; an electric hot plate where he prepared rice and beans; and a small shelf that holds a Koran and a book of Dawa politics.

His mother fed him fruit and vegetables through the trap door. He washed his gray cotton robe himself. He continued wearing it after his exit — it has a faded, patchy look.

Yeowch. What a drag.