French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo said Monday it was pressing charges after receiving fresh death threats over a cartoon of the Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan who faces rape allegations.

The provocative magazine, which suffered a deadly jihadist attack in 2015 after publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, depicted Ramadan with a huge erection in its edition last Wednesday, saying: "I am the sixth pillar of Islam."

Ramadan, 55, has furiously denied the accusations as a "campaign of lies launched by my adversaries".

The shooting at Charlie Hebdo was claimed by Al-Qaeda, with the jihadists notably seeking to punish the staunchly atheist magazine for printing cartoons of the prophet Mohammed, forbidden in Islam.

The attack was the first in a wave of jihadist attacks in France over the past two years that have left more than 240 people dead.