BROTHERS GO INTO hiding at ages 16 and 22 never to set foot outside for 23 years.

Two Iraqi brothers made their home a prison for 23 years to escape execution by Saddam Hussein's security forces, seeing daylight only after his fall.

She endured repeated interrogation and constant surveillance by security men looking for the two boys. Her husband, pregnant daughter and another son had already been executed as suspected members of the Shi'ite Muslim Daawa Party.

"For 23 years I lived in fear and anxiety. My tears never dried until Saddam was toppled," Zahra, 67, told Reuters at her humble home in a crowded quarter of Baghdad.

Zahra hid her sons in a room inside the house, keeping the secret even from her closest relatives. She managed to convince the security forces they were in Iraqi jails.

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