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Australia reassesses refugee claims of Coptic Christians following violent attacks in Egypt

Egyptian priests react during the funeral of victims of the Palm Sunday bombings, at St. Mina Coptic Orthodox Monastery 'Deir Mar Mina' in Alexandria, Egypt April 10, 2017. | Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

The Australian government has announced plans to reassess the asylum applications of Coptic Christians who have been targeted in recent Islamic State attacks in Egypt.

Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Alex Hawke told SBS on Wednesday that he is reviewing the applications of Coptic Christians who have been refused by the Department and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

The Coptic Bishop of Australia, Anba Suriel, has called on the government to provide protections to more than 20 Coptic families in the country who are facing deportation to Egypt.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton explained that there had been "instances" when asylum seekers had claimed to be Christians but had been found to be untrue, but he maintained that those whose applications have been rejected will not be sent back into harm's way.

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

"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," he continued.

Labor's immigration spokesperson Shayne Neumann has written a letter to Dutton, asking him to consider the attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt when assessing protection claims.

In the past few months, terrorist groups aligned with ISIS have targeted Coptic Christians in Egypt, with a series of bombings and targeted massacres.

In April, at least 45 Christian worshippers were killed in the suicide bombings of two Coptic churches in Tanta and in Alexandria on Palm Sunday.

In late May, a group of gunmen executed 28 Coptic Christians who were on their way to a monastery near Cairo after they refused to recite the Muslim profession of faith.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that the loss of adherents of the Coptic Christian faith to terrorism was "felt deeply by the rest of the Australian community."

"Australia stands united with the Coptic Christians in shared resolve to eradicate the scourge of terrorism," he said, according to The Guardian.

Hawke said that his office would review all protection applications by Coptic Christians that have been rejected by the immigration department and by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. However, he maintained that temporary protection does not guarantee permanent protection and all claims will still be assessed against international legal criteria for protection.

"Those found not to engage Australia's protection obligations will be expected to depart Australia at an appropriate time in the future," he said.