By ADAM LAZZARI

AN inmate was stabbed at Whitemoor Prison, March, at the weekend for refusing to convert to Islam.

The prisoner, a Turkish man believed to be in his 20s, was attacked with a knife and potato peeler.

He was taken to hospital but is now back inside the prison recovering in the health care unit.

One of the attackers is believed to be a white man who had converted to Islam while in the prison and the other was a foreign inmate.

Malcolm Moss, the MP for NE Cambs, criticised the Government and prison authorities for failing to deal with the number of racial incidents inside Whitemoor.

"I'm aware that a very serious assault took place at the prison about nine months ago because an inmate had converted to Islam and then changed his mind," he said.

"The fact that another case has come out suggests these things are happening frequently.

"The Home Office needs to address this and they have had plenty of warnings.

"If more serious assaults do happen or somebody dies the Government will have this on their head."

Attacks of this nature are not uncommon in the prison and some prison officers fear a riot over Muslim extremism could be imminent.

Mr Moss has frequently expressed concern about the high number of black and ethnic minority inmates at Whitemoor Prison.

Recent figures showed that approximately one third of the 500 inmates at the prison are Muslim, the highest per cent of Muslim prisoners in any British jail.

The population of Muslim inmates at the prison rose from 73 in 2006 to 140 last year.

Mr Moss said that prison officers were not properly trained to handle such a large number of Muslims and it is one of the issues prison officers and staff feel most strongly about.

A Prison Service spokesperson confirmed that Cambridgeshire Police is investigating the latest assault but police declined to comment.