Charlie Hebdo draws flak for depicting Aylan Kurdi as a sexual offender in cartoon

The satirical French weekly publication, Charlie Hebdo, has come under fire for publishing a cartoon that suggests that Aylan Kurdi, a toddler who drowned off the coast of Turkey while attempting to flee war-torn Syria, would have grown up to sexually assault European women. "What would little #AylanKurdi have grown up to be? Ass groper in Germany," the cartoon reads.

The cartoon's references the "gropers" or groups of drunk young men, mostly of migrant origin, who harrassed or attacked about 90 women in Cologne, Germany, on New Years Eve.

Charlie Hebdo has a history of publishing controversial material, especially related to Islam.

There is nothing, absolutely nothing 'revolutionary' about Charlie Hebdo's latest cartoon, this is pure fascism. pic.twitter.com/cqGUMxuyWG

— Mahmoud (@MahmoudRamsey) January 13, 2016

Just over a year ago, Islamic terrorists stormed the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo killing 12 in response to the Charlie Hebdo's publications of images of Islam's central prophet, Mohammed, of whom Islam strictly prohibits depictions.

Laurent "Riss" Sourisseau, a survivor of the 2015 attack, and current acting editor of the publication, drew the cartoon. These days, Riss has to be escorted by plain-clothes policemen everywhere he goes.

For many, the image of the drown Syrian toddler put a human face on the Syrian refugee crisis that overcame xenophobic concerns about the arrival of immigrants from a different culture.


(Image: AP)

A paramilitary police officer carries the lifeless body of a migrant child after a number of migrants died and a smaller number were reported missing after boats carrying them to the Greek island of Kos capsized, near the Turkish resort of Bodrum early Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015.

The publication has depicted Kurdi twice before, both times using Kurdi's death for satirical purposes.

The suggestion that a toddler, who was forced out of his home due to a brutal, seemingly endless civil war, would grow up to become a violent or sexual criminal assumes the worst about humanity, and many think it falls visibly short of humor.


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