Now owner says he WON'T sell Scottish island to hate cleric

The owner of a tiny Scots island is refusing to sell it to a firebrand cleric with plans to turn it into an Islamic homeland.

Sheikh Yasser al-Habib, 45, is currently raising funds to buy Torsa, off the west coast of Scotland.

Al-Habib wants to build a school, hospital and mosque on the island, where it also intends to practise Sharia law, The Mail on Sunday revealed.

But the plans have been met with furious opposition from locals, and the owner is now understood to be unwilling to sell the land to Al-Habib.

The cleric had plans to encourage Muslims from all over the worlds to come and live in what he has described as their new ‘homeland’, and to await the coming of their Messiah or Mahdi.

At present the island is uninhabited except for a three bedroom farmhouse which doubles as holiday accommodation.

Al-Habib has been accused of stirring up sectarian hatred in Britain and in the Arab world between Shias and rival Sunni Muslims since his arrival here in 2004.

It is understood that the owner has not agreed to the sale and it unlikely to be sold to any party who is a bad fit with the local community.

However, estate agents Savills said the island was still on the market.

Alastair Redman, councillor for the Kintyre and Islands ward, said people on neighbouring islands and on the mainland, were appalled by Al-Habib’s proposals for Torsa.

He said: ‘The proposal for setting up a sectarian religious outpost on a rural Scottish island is immoral.

‘The fact that he wants to involve an idyllic setting in prejudiced preaching is simply unacceptable.

‘There is no place for that, we should all be able to get on.’

Mr Redman, an independent councillor, urged the Home Office to be on alert for any such plans in future, adding: ‘All that people like him do is stir up division and prejudice. It doesn’t matter who is doing it. We don’t want any of that here.’

Retired science teacher Alastair Fleming, who lives on the neighbouring island of Luing, said any plans Al-Habib may have had would have been hampered by Torsa’s remote location.

He believes any proposals for a mosque, school and hospital would have been objected to by residents at the planning stage.

Mr Fleming, 85, who is a member of the Scottish Islands Federation, added: ‘It is not an easy island to set up a community on and I am perplexed as to why he has chosen Torsa.

‘The only way you can access it is by ferry and it is not big enough to cater for a large number of people.

‘Even if he did buy the island I do not think he would be able to carry out the works he is proposing.

‘There would be far too many objections.’

Another local woman added: ‘I’m not sure the WI are going to stand for this. Of course we’d welcome just about anyone, but this doesn’t seem appropriate at all.’

On the market for north of £1.5million, the picturesque island has not been sold for 85 years and has not been permanently inhabited since the 1960s.

A spokesman for Savills, the company handling the sale of Torsa, said: ‘Scottish private islands rarely come to the market and as such attract high levels of interest. Torsa, surrounded by beautiful west coast scenery and sheltered sailing waters, continues to receive interest from all over the world and remains available.’

Al-Habib, who is based in Fulmer, South Buckinghamshire, has been fundraising to buy Torsa through his controversial satellite channel Fadak TV.

Fadak has received repeated warnings from the regulator Ofcom, about its’ hate filled broadcasts.

The cleric, who preaches only in Arabic, has amassed a huge following among Britain’s 400,000 Shias and millions more across the world.

Torsa, which is in the Inner Hebrides, is just over a mile long,

It is only accessible only by private boat from Luing and lies around 20 miles from the town of Oban on the mainland.

Two representatives of al-Habib visited Torsa last August and filmed it as they were shown around.

Al-Habib has said on Fadak TV that Torsa, which comes with two smaller adjoining islets, is an ‘irreplaceable opportunity’.

He claimed asylum in Britain 20 years ago after fleeing his native Kuwait - where he spent nearly three months in jail for insulting the Sunni faith.

Sarah Zaaimi, a deputy director for communications at the American think tank Atlantic Council, who has researched al-Habib, said: ‘They will have their own army, their own justice system, they will manage their own schools and hospitals, and people from around the world will be able to migrate to this homeland.

‘It’s puzzling to me how the UK authorities are allowing such a discourse.’

Al-Habib has repeatedly come to the attention of the authorities since his arrival in the UK in 2004, and MPs have tried to shut down his TV channel without success.

Khalid Mahmood, the former Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, said: ‘This man has constantly attacked people of the Sunni faith with Fadak TV, which should not be allowed.’