UK man convicted of hate crime for Nazi-salute dog video Mexico holds its first presidential debate for July election

A Scottish man who filmed a dog appearing to give Nazi salutes has been convicted of a hate crime and fined.

Mark Meechan filmed his girlfriend’s pug responding to phrases such as “sieg heil” by raising its paw, and posted the footage on YouTube in 2016.

Meechan said the stunt was meant as a joke, but he was convicted last month of posting “grossly offensive” material.

On Monday, a judge ordered Meechan to pay an 800 pound ($1,200) fine. Sheriff Derek O’Carroll said the video “contained menacing, anti-Semitic and racist material.” He said the dog was filmed responding to the phrase “gas the Jews,” which was repeated 23 times in the video.

Meechan said his conviction set a “really dangerous precedent” for free speech and he would appeal.

The first of Mexico’s presidential debates has opened with fire, with front-runner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador defending the idea of an amnesty to fight drug violence and reviving his famous campaign slogan from 2006, “For the good of all, the poor come first.”

The leftist candidate defended his proposals to “speak with everybody” to solve Mexico’s crime problem. He said he would even invite the pope to discuss how to carry out such a dialogue.

The other candidates harshly criticized the amnesty proposal. Thirdplace candidate Jose Antonio Meade says the proposal puts Lopez Obrador “on the side of the criminals.”

Lopez Obrador sought in his failed 2012 presidential bid move to the middle and hadn’t much mentioned the “poor come first” slogan of this unsuccessful 2006 campaign until Sunday.