Muslim asylum seekers are "pretending to be Coptic Christians" so they can stay in Australia, the country's Immigration Minister has revealed.



Speaking to Sydney's radio station 2GB, Minister Peter Dutton there had been "instances" when asylum seekers' claims to be Christians had been found to be untrue. He made his comments when asked about concerns over a number of Coptic Christians facing deportation to Egypt next month.



"We're not going to send people back into harm's way, we don't do that," he explained. "But we just have some cases where we're concerned about where the court, for example, has found that the application is fraudulent."



He added, "We're not going to ... deport anyone until we can have another look at each of the cases but in some cases, we do have concerns about the legitimacy of the claims made."



The Australian government has come under fire after announcing it plans to deport eighty Coptic Christians because their asylum claims have failed.

