Prisoner Omar Khyam has denied scalding a fellow inmate to get a transfer from a high-security North-East jail.
The convicted terrorist scalded armed robber Malcolm Cruddas with a boiling oil and water at Frankland Prison, Durham.
Khyam, who is serving a life sentence with a minimum 20 years, admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
The 26-year-old returned to Teesside Crown Court today to be sentenced by Judge Tony Briggs for the October 17 attack.
Judge Briggs passed an indeterminate sentence for the protection of the public with a minimum four-year tariff.
The court heard that the attack on Mr Cruddas, 32, from Gateshead, came after two others at Frankland involving convicted terrorists.
In July last year, inmate Dhiren Barot spent five days in hospital after being burned in a similar boiling liquid scalding.
His attacker, from Sunderland, had the case dropped when Barot refused to co-operate with police.
Also last July, the cell of Hussain Osman, one of the July 21 bomb conspirators, was set alight.
Khyam's barrister, Sam Robinson, told the court that there was an atmosphere of "fear and mistrust" among Muslim inmates.
He said Khyam heard of a plot behind bars to cause him harm, and struck first, but accepted it was "excessive self-defence".
The court heard that Khyam had applied for and been refused a transfer from the prison, which holds some of the country's most notorious criminals.
Khyam has since been moved to Full Sutton Prison in York and Barot has been taken back to Bellmarsh Jail in London.
Mr Robinson denied that Khyam carried out the attack on Cruddas to get a transfer after a judicial review into the refusal failed.
He said Muslim prisoners did feel abandoned, and he is now content at Full Sutton even though he is still miles away from his family in Sussex.
Source: Asian Image (English)
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