Black lawmaker Danielle Obono has been portrayed by a French magazine as a slave. Valeurs Actuelles, showed Obono in chains with an iron collar around her neck. The politician belongs to the far-left ‘France Unbowed’ party.

Al Arabiya reports that President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday led nationwide outrage against the slave portrayal of Obono. The French presidency said Macron called Obono to express his clear condemnation, while Prime Minister Jean Castex, said Valeurs Actuelles was a “revolting publication”. He added, “I share the indignation of lawmaker Obono.”  Obono tweeted: “The extreme right – odious, stupid and cruel.”

According to Al Arabiya, anti-racism body SOS Racisme said it was contemplating what legal measures could be taken to act against the magazine’s illustration.

The magazine, meanwhile, has denied being racist. It said the 7-page story regarding Obono, which was illustrated by the slave portrayal, was “a work of fiction… but never nasty.” Nevertheless, an official from France’s far-right National Rally Party, Wallerand de Saint-Just, said the story was “in absolute bad taste.”

Umm Muhammed Umar