Jordan’s Queen Rania Responds to Charlie Hebdo Cartoon of Aylan Kurdi With Own Tribute to Syrian Toddler

AMMAN (AFP) — Jordan’s Queen Rania has hit back at a cartoon in French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo depicting drowned Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi as a grown-up committing sexual harassment in Germany.

The cartoon shows a man chasing a woman, with the caption asking: “What would have become of small Aylan if he grew up?”

“Someone who gropes asses in Germany,” it added, referring to the multiple acts of sexual assault blamed on migrants on New Year’s Eve.

In response Queen Rania posted a cartoon on Facebook and Twitter by Jordan’s Osama Hajjaj depicting the little boy lying face down on the beach alongside an older child with a backpack and finally a doctor.

The queen added the caption: “Aylan could’ve been a doctor, a teacher, a loving parent.”

The Charlie Hebdo drawing has triggered sharp criticism on social networks while Aylan’s relatives in Canada expressed “disgust”.

The magazine, contacted Thursday, declined to comment.

On January 7, 2015, militant gunmen killed 12 people in an assault on the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, which had been a target since publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, in 2006.