An Ottawa man serving a life sentence for terrorism has returned to prison after being attacked in a Quebec prison.

Momin Khawaja's father said his son was scalded with boiling water by a fellow inmate also convicted on terrorism charges.

Khawaja received burns to 60 to 70 per cent of his body, said his father Mahboob Khawaja.

"He was attacked by one of the inmates who lives in the same range, the inmate was out of the Toronto 18," he said.

"He attacked him from [the] backside with a pot of boiling water."

Alleged attacker part of Toronto bomb plot

Mahboob Khawaja told CBC News that his son told him his attacker was Zakaria Amara, another inmate convicted of terrorism in the plot to set off three bombs in Toronto.

Khawaja's lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon, said this is the first time Khawaja has had any trouble during his five years in custody.

"I'm certainly looking forward to hearing from prison authorities to indicate what they're doing to take precautions to make sure this doesn't happen in the future," Greenspon told the CBC's Julie Ireton.

The attack took place on Jan. 16 at the federal Special Handling Unit, the super-maximum-security prison in Ste-Anne-des-Plaines, Que.. It happened as inmates were preparing snacks before returning to their cells for the night.

Khawaja 1st person charged under Canadian anti-terror laws

An Ottawa software developer and the first person ever charged under Canada's anti-terror laws, Khawaja was found guilty of five charges of financing and facilitating terrorism and two Criminal Code offences related to building a remote-control device that could trigger bombs.

He was sentenced in 2008 to 10½ years in prison, but Ontario's highest court later increased his sentence to life with no chance of parole for 10 years.

Khawaja is appealing his case to the Supreme Court of Canada. A tentative court date has been set for June.

Mahboob Khawaja said his son is now out of hospital and they saw each other over the weekend.

"He was still in [a] very critical situation and having difficulty to speak with me. I could see he was in great pain," he said.

Greenspon added Khawaja returned to prison early this week after his hospital stay.

With files from the CBC's Julie Ireton