Andrew Raven
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 05/05) - A Yellowknife businessman convicted in connection with a terrorist bombing in Germany will appear in Calgary tomorrow for an immigration hearing.

Lawyers for the government of Canada are expected to argue Lothar Ebke, a 51-year-old bed and breakfast owner, should be deported because of his criminal past and allegations he lied to immigration officials when he first moved to Canada in the mid 1990s.

Lothar Ebke is scheduled to undergo an immigration hearing Jan. 6 to determine whether he can remain in Canada after being convicted of a bombing in Germany. - NNSL file photo

Ebke pleaded guilty earlier this year in a German court to planning the 1987 bombing of an immigration office in Berlin. Nobody was injured in the blast.

During the trial, which followed his extradition from Canada after a four-year legal battle, Ebke reportedly admitted his involvement in a left wing terrorist organization known as the Revolutionary Cells.

The group was linked to a series of bombings in Germany between 1976 and 1987, including a blast at a U.S. military base in Frankfurt that injured 16.

Despite Ebke's criminal record and a well-publicized federal crack down on suspected terrorists following the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on New York's World Trade Center, he was granted travel documents from the Canadian embassy in Berlin not long after his conviction.

Ebke, who made immigration officials aware of his conviction, was detained when he arrived in Calgary in early December.

During a preliminary hearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board a few days later, a government lawyer argued Ebke should remain in custody until his citizenship is decided during a full hearing scheduled for tomorrow.

"It is our belief that Mr. Ebke will use his resources to instead go underground in Canada," said Anna Audia, a lawyer with the federal Department of Immigration, during the hearing.

"He has a past that includes living a double life."

Ebke's lawyer John Norris scoffed at the suggestion, calling it "ridiculous."

"The event occurred many years ago," Norris said, referring to the 1987 bombing. "He has absolutely no interest of going underground in Canada."

A member of the Immigration and Refugee Board -- an independent, quasi-judicial body -- agreed with Norris and allowed Ebke to return to Yellowknife on two $75,000 bonds.

In Calgary, lawyers are expected to highlight Ebke's criminal record and allegations that he lied to immigration officials when he came to Canada in 1995. According to a report from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Ebke and his partner Regina Pfeiffer both came to the country under the pretext of phony marriages.

During a police investigation in 2000, a Yellowknife man admitted to marrying Pfeiffer in December of 1993 "solely for the purpose of entering Canada," an RCMP officer wrote.

In 1995, Ebke married another Old Town resident and immigrated to Canada as her spouse. Within two weeks, police say he was sharing a home with Pfeiffer.

The four were arrested in May and June of 2000 and charged with violating the Immigration Act.

The charges against Ebke and Pfeiffer were stayed in 2001, but Audia said it was "quite likely" immigration officials will re-open the case.

Lawyers are also expected to argue Ebke falsified immigration papers when he first came to Canada in the mid-1990s.

According to Audia, Ebke did not disclose to officials his links to the Revolutionary Cells or his involvement in the 1987 bombing.

"Mr. Ebke misrepresented his status to the Immigration Department both here and abroad," Audia said.

"His very status in Canada was acquired through deception. His credibility in the immigration department therefore has very little weight."

During the immigration hearing, Norris said Ebke was not the same man who was convicted of the 1987 bombing. "Mr. Ebke poses absolutely no danger to the public whatsoever," he said. According to media reports, Ebke has lived a quiet life -- aside from the battle over his extradition -- as a bed and breakfast owner in Old Town.

He has not been convicted of a crime since arriving in Canada and there are no indications he still has links to a terrorist organization.

Ebke could not be reached for comment.