The Australian government has rejected claims that it offered to resettle asylum seekers held abroad in Australia if they withdraw statements about a killing at its camp in Papua New Guinea.
The claim was made by an Australian human rights lawyer, Julian Burnside QC, who said a confidential source had told him that asylum seekers who witnessed the death of the Iranian man in Manus in February would be settled in Australia if they withdrew their statements.
The Australian immigration minister, Scott Morrison, has told the Australian broadaster SBS this is a false.
The minister says it is an offensive suggestion made without any basis or substantiation by advocates with proven form of political malice and opposition to the government's successful border protection policies.
Mr Burnside says asylum seekers arriving by boat are mistreated in every possible way.
Two former guards of the private company hired to provide security at the Manus camp have been arrested over the killing.
Dozens more asylum seekers at the Manus camp were injured.
An asylum-seeker holds a picture of Reza Berati who died at the detention centre Photo: AAP