Charlie Hebdo, the famous French satirical magazine which was targeted by terrorists in a January attack, has once again been on the receiving end of criticism for going too far after it yesterday published a cartoon of a controversial gaffe-prone politician, calling her “the secret Down’s Syndrome daughter of Charles de Gaulle.”

The weekly magazine’s front page shows the image of Nadine Morano, an MEP and former cabinet minister in Nicolas Sarkozy’s government, as a baby, being cradled by the former president Charles de Gaulle. Morano, a conservative right-leaning representative, has recently become a figure of contention in France, after describing claiming the nation was “a country of white race” in a television interview.

The statement, the latest in a long line of political howlers, has seen the seasoned politician be stripped on the right to run for The Republicans’ party in December in regional elections.

Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical publication that became a household name after Islamic terrorists executed a number of its cartoonists at its French offices, has drawn much ire for the cartoon, with many of its critics accusing its editors of insulting people with Down’s Syndrome.

The cartoon mocks a famous image of Charles de Gaulle with his daughter Anne, who had Down's Syndrome and died of pneumonia at the age of 20 in 1948.

French leader Charles de Gaulle and his daughter Anne [Twitter]

The hashtag #Jenesuispluscharlie (“I am Charlie no more”) was trending on Twitter in France on Wednesday, the day when the magazine hit shelves around the country.

Charlie Hebdo is respected – and loathed in equal measure – for pulling no punches with its irreverent cartoons poking fun at political and religious leaders, or polemic world issues. Its artists typically skewer far-right politicians, but recently drew more criticism for a number of cartoon highlighting the case of Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler whose drowned body on a Turkish beach ignited much discussion on the migrant and refugee crisis currently gripping Europe.

But the magazine’s Morano cover received a barrage of criticism on Twitter. One person described the cartoon as “revolting gutter humour,” and another person chided the magazine saying Charlie Hebdo’s editorial staff “can also be just as stupid as the people they are targeting.”

In the past, Charlie Hebdo became a notorious publication around the world after it chose to publish cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad, leading to a number of protests at French embassies in Muslim countries around the world.

On January 7^th, Cherif and Said Kouachi launched a deadly attack on the magazine in Paris, claiming that they were avenging the Muhammad cartoons by storming the magazine’s office, where they shot dead 12 people.

Chérif and Saïd Kouachi, two Muslim extremists said they were avenging those cartoons when they stormed the offices of Charlie Hebdo on January 7th, ultimately killing 12 people before being shot dead by police officers while on the run.

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