Man who filmed dog giving Nazi salutes fined £800

A man who filmed a pet dog giving Nazi salutes before posting the footage online has been fined £800.

Mark Meechan, 30, recorded his partner’s pug responding to statements such as “gas the Jews” and “sieg heil” by raising its paw before posting the footage on YouTube in April 2016.

He was found guilty of posting material that was “grossly offensive” and “antisemitic and racist in nature” in breach of the Communications Act, in an offence aggravated by religious prejudice, following a trial at Airdrie sheriff court.

Meechan had claimed he made the video as a joke to annoy his partner and raised issues about freedom of speech. Speaking outside the court, he said that the decision set a dangerous precedent.

Dozens of supporters of Meechan, including former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson, were at the court for the hearing on Monday.

Sheriff Derek O’Carroll, sentencing Meechan, said the video was grossly offensive and that his girlfriend did not even subscribe to the channel he posted it on.

He said: “The centrepiece of your video consists of you repeating the phrase ‘gas the Jews’ over and over again as a command to a dog, which then reacts.

“You use the command ‘sieg heil’, having trained the dog to raise its paw in response and the video shows a clip of a Nuremberg rally and a flashing image of Hitler with strident music.

“You say the video was only intended as a joke to upset your girlfriend, whose dog you used, and nothing more.

“On the whole evidence, including your own, applying the law as made by parliament and interpreted by the most senior courts in this land, I found it proved that the video you posted, using a public communications network, was grossly offensive and contained menacing, antisemitic and racist material.”

He added that while the right to freedom of expression was very important, “in all modern democratic countries, the law necessarily places some limits on that right”.