Ile-de-France
PARIS
French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is facing fresh international criticism after a cartoon in its latest edition appeared to link Syrian Kurdish toddler Aylan Kurdi with those who committed sex attacks in Cologne on New Year’s Eve.
The cartoon contains a drawing of the toddler’s drowned body in one corner; below it is a depiction of two men chasing women.
A caption reads: "What would little Aylan have grown up to be? A bum groper in Germany.”
The controversial caricature has sparked a harsh reaction on social media.
The magazine's current publishing director, Laurent Sourisseau, nicknamed Riss, is the author of the cartoon.
On Jan. 7 last year, two brothers -- Said and Cherif Kouachi -- targeted the offices of Charlie Hebdo, murdering 12 people.
Among the murdered were the magazine’s editor Stephane Charbonnier, AKA 'Charb', a number of prominent cartoonists and journalists, a building maintenance worker and two police officers.
Images of the body of Aylan Kurdi – a Syrian child washed ashore on a Turkish beach last September – prompted an international outcry about the refugee crisis in Europe.
