Iraq: Family demand 'return' of Algeria 'Shia convert' journalist

A video has emerged showing an Algerian journalist recovering after being shot in the head by an Islamic State group sniper, declaring her conversion to Shia Islam and renouncing her ties to Algeria.

The footage of Samira Mouaki has prompted her family to demand Baghdad return her back to Algeria to continue her recovery.

"I will stay here in Iraq because I am no longer a Sunni. I am have become a Shia," Mouaki said in a video circulated widely on social media.

"I am the daughter of Hussein and he was a Shia. I am proud of this," she adds, referring to the Prophet Mohammed's grandson and the third Shia Imam.

It is unclear who filmed the footage of the recovering reporter.

Earlier this month, Mouaki was critically injured by IS sniper fire near Tal Afar, west of Mosul, while covering advances by Iraqi forces on the contested city.

Health officials said on Sunday that the journalist had awoken from a coma "fully recovered" and was ready to resume reporting on the frontline, according to local media.

The Echourouk journalist had been embedded with Shia militias known as the Hashd al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilisation Forces, at the time of the attack.

She was transported by plane to a hospital in Baghdad for treatment.

The Hashd al-Shaabi have been accused of sectarian war crimes against Sunni civilians over the past year during its campaigns to wrestle back control of Iraqi territory from IS.

Mouaki's family have urged Iraqi authorities to send her back to Algeria so she can continue her recovery.

"She is a difficult mental state. Everything she is saying is abnormal," Mouaki's brother Hamza told The New Arab.

"She has told us she wants to leave Iraq. We have asked the Algerian government to urgently intervene and send her back home," he said.

He added that his sister had been discharged from hospital and was staying in a Baghdad hotel.

Mouaki's brother Lyazid released a video statement on Facebook explaining that the injury to Samira's brain has severely impaired her reasoning and that she cannot be held responsible for her comments.

On Tuesday, Mouaki released a video apologising for her comments and confirmed that she would soon return to Algeria.

"I apologise to Algerians for what I said. Algeria is my country and I will see you all there tomorrow," Mouaki said.

The Algerian embassy in Iraq also demanded that no unauthorised visits to Mouaki take place to avoid anyone "taking advantage of her weak mental state", diplomatic sources told media.