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In this file photo taken on December 28, 2018 Amou Haji (uncle Haji) sits on the outskirts of the village of Dezhgah in the Dehram district of the southwestern Iranian Fars province. Image Credit: AFP

TEHRAN: An Iranian man nicknamed the “dirtiest man in the world” for not taking a shower for decades has died at the age of 94, state media reported on Tuesday.

Amou Haji, who did not wash for more than half a century and was single, died on Sunday in the village of Dejgah in the southern province of Fars, IRNA news agency reported.

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Amou Haji (uncle Haji) lies on the ground on the outskirts of the village of Dezhgah. Image Credit: AFP

Haji had avoided showering over fears of “getting sick”, the agency quoted a local official as saying.

But “for the first time a few months ago, villagers had taken him to a bathroom to wash,” IRNA reported.

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Haji sits in front of an open brick shack that the villagers constructed for him, on the outskirts of the village of Dezhgah. Image Credit: AFP

A short documentary film titled “The Strange Life of Amou Haji” was made about his life in 2013, according to Iranian media outlets.