The head of the BBC Arabic Service refused to use the term terrorist to describe the Al-Qaeda affiliated gunmen responsible for the attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that left 12 dead.
Tarik Kalafa told The Independent, “We try to avoid describing anyone as a terrorist, or an act as being terrorist. Terrorism is such a loaded word. The UN has been struggling for more than a decade to define the word and they can’t. It is very difficult to.”