Owner of tiny Scottish island makes statement on firebrand Muslim cleric ownership bid

The owner of a small west coast Scottish island up for sale that has drawn interest from a firebrand cleric said the location would not be sold to anyone unsuitable for the local community, reports have claimed.

The statement came after it was revealed Sheikh Yasser Al-Habib, 45, and his supporters had been in advanced talks to buy Torsa, off the west coast of Scotland. The one-mile long island, which has not been inhabited for 85 years, sits in the Slate Isles and was marketed last year by Savills for £1.5 million.

The scholar wants to build a school, hospital and mosque on the island, where he intends to practise sharia law, it has been claimed. Mr Al-Habib has raised more than £3m for the project and is said to be in advanced talks to buy the island. But the sale is apparently being refused by the owner of Torsa, according to one newspaper.

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

The newspaper referred to reports on the cleric’s Fadak TV, which MPs have called to be shut down given its attacks on people of the Sunni faith.

Mr Al-Habib is said to have claimed in one video that he will negotiate with the UK government to secure visas to allow Muslims “from all over the world” to live in their new “homeland”.

In one video, he said: “If you want to live free under the banner of the imam [Shia leader], in a special homeland where you feel everything in it reminds you of the awaited mahdi, everything is the Shia homeland … support this project.”

Mr Al-Habib, who is originally from Kuwait but was granted asylum in Britain 20 years ago, is claimed to have said on Fadak TV that Torsa, which comes with two little adjoining islets and is 20 miles south of Oban, is an “irreplaceable opportunity”.

The cleric, who spent nearly three months in jail in Kuwait for insulting the Sunni faith, leads the Mahdi [Messiah] Servants Union (MSU).

Savills, which is managing the sale, said the island continues to attract interest from all around the world. Torsa has one farmhouse and a ruined castle and is accessible only by private boat from Luing – itself reached via a ferry from the island of Seil. Its name is of Norse origin and roughly translates as "Thor's Island".