A linguistically-convoluted post

Kasra Naji

If you've been watching the BBC News Channel today you might have spotted Kasra Naji from the BBC Persian Service talking about Trump and Iran. 

Though he came across well, I was struck by just how linguistically convoluted he became when talking about Ayatollah Larijani, the hardline head of the judiciary in Iran. He could just have say that the hanging ayatollah has been "accused of human rights abuses" or that he is "seen as responsible for human rights abuses" or that he faces "allegations of human rights abuses"; but no, he had to double-up on the distancing language each time:

He's the head of the judiciary, accused of a whole range of allegations of human rights abuses, 

He's responsible or at least seen as responsible for allegations of human rights abuses 

It's probably a 'BBC Impartiality' thing.

That said, there was no linguistically convolution whatsoever from him when it came to choosing a term to describe the kind of people who think that the Iran nuclear deal is 'a bad thing': 

But obviously hardliners in the US and President Trump are unhappy with this and they want to get rid of it.

Still Kasra was otherwise quite impressive and offered an opinion that I didn't expect to hear from a BBC reporter in reference to the US sanctions on Ayatollah Larijani:

So in terms of Iranians hearing this, I would have thought it's a popular thing for the US to do.

I wonder if it is popular.