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A man who filmed a pet dog giving Nazi salutes before putting the footage on YouTube has been convicted of committing a hate crime.
Mark Meechan, 30, recorded his girlfriend's pug, Buddha, responding to statements such as "gas the Jews" and "Sieg Heil" by raising its paw.
But police were alerted and he was arrested for allegedly committing a hate crime.
The original clip had been viewed more than three million times on YouTube.
Grossly offensive
Meechan, of Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, went on trial at Airdrie Sheriff Court where he denied any wrong doing.
He insisted he made the video, which was posted in April 2016, to annoy his girlfriend Suzanne Kelly, 29.
But Sheriff Derek O'Carroll found him guilty of a charge under the Communications Act that he posted a video on social media and YouTube which was grossly offensive because it was "anti-semitic and racist in nature" and was aggravated by religious prejudice.
Sheriff O'Carroll told the court he did not believe Meechan had made the video only to annoy his girlfriend and ruled it was anti-Semitic.
He also said he believed Meechan - who was supported at court by Tommy Robinson, former leader of far-right group the English Defence League (EDL) - left the video on YouTube to drive traffic to other material he had on there.
He added: "In my view it is a reasonable conclusion that the video is grossly offensive "The description of the video as humorous is no magic wand. "This court has taken the freedom of expression into consideration.
"But the right to freedom of expression also comes with responsibility."
Sheriff O'Carroll said Meehan was "quite obviously an intelligent and articulate man".
But he added: "The accused knew that the material was offensive and knew why it was offensive.
"Despite that the accused made a video containing anti-Semitic content and he would have known it was grossly offensive to many Jewish people."
Ross Brown, defending, said Meechan had only intended the video to be seen by a small group of friends and to annoy his girlfriend.
He said the material had been leaked and gone viral but Police Scotland then wrongly pursued Meechan despite his later videos attempting to "set the record straight".
Mr Brown said: "His girlfriend testified that Mr Meechan had never made known to her any any anti-Semitic views whatsoever.
"The accused possesses both tolerant and liberal views.
"His girlfriend is in no doubt it was an example of his sense of humour."
Mr Brown told the court it was wrong to focus on the phrase "gas the Jews" when it had been taken out of context of the whole video.
He claimed Jewish comedian David Baddiel had voiced his support for Meechan and had asked for him to walk free.
He added: "I can see that the video may not be to everyone's taste.
"Others may be able to see the comedic or satirical element to it.
"The court should seek to acquit Mr Meechan for no other reason but to show it is 2018 and not 1984."
Prosecutors had earlier asked for Meechan to be convicted and branded the video "an odious criminal act that was dressed up to look like a joke."
Comedian Ricky Gervais took to Twitter to comment on the case after the verdict.
He tweeted: "A man has been convicted in a UK court of making a joke that was deemed 'grossly offensive'.
"If you don't believe in a person's right to say things that you might find 'grossly offensive', then you don't believe in Freedom of Speech."
Mark Meechan, 30, recorded his girlfriend's pug, Buddha, responding to statements such as "gas the Jews" and "Sieg Heil" by raising its paw.
But police were alerted and he was arrested for allegedly committing a hate crime.
The original clip had been viewed more than three million times on YouTube.
Grossly offensive
Meechan, of Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, went on trial at Airdrie Sheriff Court where he denied any wrong doing.
He insisted he made the video, which was posted in April 2016, to annoy his girlfriend Suzanne Kelly, 29.
But Sheriff Derek O'Carroll found him guilty of a charge under the Communications Act that he posted a video on social media and YouTube which was grossly offensive because it was "anti-semitic and racist in nature" and was aggravated by religious prejudice.
Sheriff O'Carroll told the court he did not believe Meechan had made the video only to annoy his girlfriend and ruled it was anti-Semitic.
He also said he believed Meechan - who was supported at court by Tommy Robinson, former leader of far-right group the English Defence League (EDL) - left the video on YouTube to drive traffic to other material he had on there.
He added: "In my view it is a reasonable conclusion that the video is grossly offensive "The description of the video as humorous is no magic wand. "This court has taken the freedom of expression into consideration.
"But the right to freedom of expression also comes with responsibility."
Sheriff O'Carroll said Meehan was "quite obviously an intelligent and articulate man".
But he added: "The accused knew that the material was offensive and knew why it was offensive.
"Despite that the accused made a video containing anti-Semitic content and he would have known it was grossly offensive to many Jewish people."
Ross Brown, defending, said Meechan had only intended the video to be seen by a small group of friends and to annoy his girlfriend.
He said the material had been leaked and gone viral but Police Scotland then wrongly pursued Meechan despite his later videos attempting to "set the record straight".
Mr Brown said: "His girlfriend testified that Mr Meechan had never made known to her any any anti-Semitic views whatsoever.
"The accused possesses both tolerant and liberal views.
"His girlfriend is in no doubt it was an example of his sense of humour."
Mr Brown told the court it was wrong to focus on the phrase "gas the Jews" when it had been taken out of context of the whole video.
He claimed Jewish comedian David Baddiel had voiced his support for Meechan and had asked for him to walk free.
He added: "I can see that the video may not be to everyone's taste.
"Others may be able to see the comedic or satirical element to it.
"The court should seek to acquit Mr Meechan for no other reason but to show it is 2018 and not 1984."
Prosecutors had earlier asked for Meechan to be convicted and branded the video "an odious criminal act that was dressed up to look like a joke."
Comedian Ricky Gervais took to Twitter to comment on the case after the verdict.
He tweeted: "A man has been convicted in a UK court of making a joke that was deemed 'grossly offensive'.
"If you don't believe in a person's right to say things that you might find 'grossly offensive', then you don't believe in Freedom of Speech."
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Replies: 47
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ive not heard of anyone getting nicked for having placards with DEATH TO INFIDELS written on them whilst walking the streets of LUTON
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Utterly ridiculous and kudos to Baddiel & Gervais.
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The conviction is more offensive than what he did.
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This is the road we are going down making everyone scared to say anything. It started with social self-censorship over commenting on immigration and Brexit and Trump and grooming gangs. Now the state is getting involved.
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"The court should seek to acquit Mr Meechan for no other reason but to show it is 2018 and not 1984."
 The reason why he was not acquitted was because it's 2018 and not 1984. |
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2018 is officially "The Year Of Being Offended"
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Sheriff O,Carroll should be sentenced to 20 years in jail, without trial
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seems as if there are a few offended on this thread...
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There is no right not to be offended, that's not what we are talking about here,
try and understand donny |
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yeah, exactly
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you see everyone is offended all the time, even you
so what? |
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im not offended, but others are, so what?
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exactly, now you are beginning to understand
I suppose that's something |
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if the bloke makes a video of his dog doing nazi salutes at a puppet judge it would be funny
so what? and the judge wouldnt like it, he might be offended but it would be more funny if the judge was offended, so what? |
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its funny that people on this thread are offended by people being offended, so what?
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its funny that you(lfc) felt the need to attack me for expressing my freedom of speech
on a thread by people offended by lack of freedom of speech so what? |
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this is all very senseless, well now you know what sort of person I am
so what? |
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I didn't of course attack you for speaking, I criticised you for what you said
don't confuse one with the other |
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so what?
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because there was a flaw in what you said, that is what I was trying to explain
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so what?
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That is why I used the words, try and understand
if you are not capable there is not much we can do about that |
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so what?
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Lets just get down to the 2018 basics.
Only men can be sexist Only white people can be racist Only white men can commit hate crimes White men can't be offended Islam is the religion of Peace |
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snowflake alert/\
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theres another one
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When I was the victim of an armed robbery and two muggings in the nineties, I recall visting the police station and looking at several mug shots.
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How do you expect the prisons to keep their profits up unless we send more people to prison, fail to rehabilitate them and turn them into hardened criminals to create repeat business?
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Are we even allowed to question the judgement nowadays?
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did the dog bark "springtime for hitler an germany"
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Surprised no one is calling for the death penalty for the dog.
The money we're wasting on police and court time for trivia is shocking. If we saved this money Donny could get a rise to his benefits.  |
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why should the dog be penalised ?
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I wonder what the dog thinks?
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The dog knew EXACTLY what the game was and is culpable. Ignorance is no excuse in the eyes of the law.
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Should have paid £3 and enrolled his dog in Corbyn's Labour Party. Nothing illegal about those views as long as you spew them out from the far Left rather than the far Right.
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dear oh dear oh dear.... ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
a very poor post. You'd be one of the first to say you can do better than that! |
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LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has not done enough to stamp out anti-Jewish sentiment in his party, a prominent parliamentary committee said on Sunday.
Lawmakers on the multi-party Home Affairs Committee said the veteran socialist had a proud record fighting racism but his lack of command on the issue had created a safe space in Labour ranks “for those with vile attitudes towards Jewish people”. “The failure of the Labour Party to deal consistently and effectively with anti-Semitic incidents in recent years risks lending force to allegations that elements of the Labour movement are institutionally anti-Semitic,” the report said. ... the committee’s lawmakers said they were “not persuaded that Corbyn fully appreciates the distinct nature of post-Second World War anti-Semitism”. “Jewish Labour MPs have been subject to appalling levels of abuse, including anti-Semitic death threats from individuals purporting to be supporters of Mr Corbyn,” the report said. https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-politics-antisemitism/labour-party-not-doing-enough-on-anti-semitism-lawmakers-idUKKBN12F0U5?il=0 |
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You're doing the left/right thing again!
There are plenty of anti-semites in all areas of life and in all wings. What you have also done is bring Corbyn into a thread which was unconnected to anything related to him. This happens a lot. The media have spent most of the last 2 years doing their damnedest to find anything to discredit the geezer, even if he hasn't actually done the thing he is being castigated for. Still, you've made your point..... again. Oh, and Nothing illegal about those views as long as you spew them out from the far Left rather than the far Right isn't exactly accurate either, is it? |
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Filming a dog giving Nazi salutes. Other racists better give PAWS for thought before posting anything online
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