The
Jewish Chronicle reports that a Sheriff's Court in Airdrie, Scotland yesterday found 30-year old Mark Meechan guilty of a hate crime for a YouTube posting that went viral. The video featured a dog owned by Meechan's girlfriend. Meechan had trained the dog to give a Nazi salute when Meechan said "sieg heil" or "gas the Jews." Meechan, who has apologized, says the video was his attempt to annoy his girl friend:
My girlfriend is always ranting and raving about how cute and adorable her wee dog is, so I thought I would turn him into the least cute thing I could think of, which is a Nazi.
The Sheriff's Court judge however ruled:
The accused knew that the material was offensive and knew why it was offensive. He would have known it was grossly offensive to many Jewish people.
Sentencing in the case is scheduled for April 23.
