A Muslim man is going to prison for stabbing a priest in Turkey.

A Turkish judge sentenced Ramazan Bay to four and a half years in prison for the assault.

Bay approached Father Adriano Franchini following church services in December 2007.

He said he wanted to know more about Christianity. But when Franchini asked him if he wanted to convert, Bay stabbed him in the stomach.

Bay claims he was influenced by a Turkish television show that portrays Christian missionaries as criminals.

Meanwhile, the court case surrounding the torture and killing of three missionaries drags on. It's been nearly two years since the men were murdered in the Malatya Province of Turkey.