The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Sheikh Yasser al-Habib, 45, and his followers are in advanced talks to buy the remote isle of Torsa, off the west coast of Scotland.
A firebrand cleric who has been accused of spreading hate has raised more than £3 million to buy a small British island and turn it into his own Islamic state.
Residents on the neighbouring island of Luing reacted with concern when The Mail on Sunday revealed his plans to them. He has been fundraising through his controversial satellite channel Fadak TV, which he has run for several years from a £2 million converted church hall. Torsa, which is one of the Slate Islands, is just over a mile long and has one farmhouse. It is accessible only by private boat from Luing – itself reached via a ferry from the island of Seil, which in turn connects to the mainland via a bridge – and has not been permanently inhabited for more than 50 years. Sources told The MoS that two representatives of the group have visited the island and filmed it as they were shown around.
In the same video, another man, who is filming from Torsa, says: 'Here, my brothers, God willing, we want to build a large mosque, a school and a hawza . We want this place to be a homeland to the Shias and the believers.' The footage switches to images of al-Habib's 'army', called Al-Shurta Al-Khamis, training and doing drills in the grounds of his mosque in Fulmer.
'It does challenge the notion of sovereignty. It's puzzling to me how the UK authorities are allowing such a discourse. You are fundraising for the creation of a sovereign country on the margins of another country.'
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