Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel was returned to Canada by U.S. authorities, who accused him of over-staying his welcome on a temporary U.S. visa. Zundel left Canada in 2001 after years of legal troubles that he said compromised his freedom of speech.

Zundel, 63, was handed over to Canadian immigration officials by U.S. officials on Wednesday. He had been in custody in Tennessee for over-staying a temporary U.S. visa. He is currently being held at a detention centre in Niagara Falls, Ont.

There are reports Zundel is seeking refugee status in Canada, apparently because he faces jail if he returns to his place of birth, Germany.

In Germany, which now has some of the world's strongest anti-hate laws, Zundel has been convicted in absentia of Holocaust denial.

"I won't comment about specifics," Immigration Minister Denis Coderre said outside the House of Commons. "I'm totally dedicated to make sure that the legitimate people who are seeking our generosity will be facilitated. But ... those who are trying the system and who give a bad reputation to our system should be careful."

Bernie Farber of the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) said Thursday his organization has been inundated with calls from Canadian Jews and non-Jews alike who are outraged by Zundel's return.

"This is a man that nobody wants," Farber told Canada AM.

"His website is still replete with anti-Semitic and Holocaust denial material. The whole thing is really shameful that he's back."

Farber said the CJC and the Canadian Human Rights Commission plan to serve Zundel with contempt of court papers for failing to remove content from his website, which could result in a five-year jail sentence.

Joel Guberman, an immigration lawyer, says that makes for a "bizarre" twist in Zundel's refugee claim.

"You could almost say that if he was in reasonable fear of persecution, he might claim that Canada was where (he was) persecuted the most," Guberman said.

"It is a travesty for our system," he added.

Zundel left Canada in 2001, vowing never to return. He was at the centre of a long-running human rights complaint that accused him of spreading anti-Semitic hate literature through his website. A Canadian human rights tribunal ordered Zundel last year to remove hate literature from his Web site, citing 33 specific documents it considered offensive.

He has questioned whether the extermination of millions of Jews during the Second World War ever happened. He was once described by the U.S. Jewish Anti-Defamation League as "Canada's leading pro-Nazi and Holocaust-denial propagandist."

Zundel is not a Canadian citizen although he lived in the country for almost 40 years after immigrating from Germany in 1958 and becoming a permanent resident. He wrote and ran his website from Toronto, before moving the U.S.

Zundel was arrested outside his home in Sevierville, about 30 kilometres east of Knoxville, Tenn. U.S. immigration officials said he violated his terms of admission to the country as a visitor by failing to attend a hearing for an extension.

Zundel left Canada in 2001, vowing never to return. Zundel is not a Canadian citizen although he lived in the country for almost 40 years after immigrating from Germany in 1958 and becoming a permanent resident.

In the 1970s he ran a Toronto-based publishing company that produced books with titles such as The Hitler We Loved and Why. In the 1980s, Canadian officials tried to shut him down, first by temporarily suspending his mailing privileges and later by suing him criminally for "knowingly publishing false news."

He was convicted but the Supreme Court struck down the "false news" law in 1992 before he could be sent to jail.

Canada refused to grant him citizenship, prompting his move to Tennessee.

Ontario Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty and the Canadian Jewish Congress have demanded that Ottawa reject any request by Zundel to re-enter the country.

With a report from the Canadian Press