It depends on the reader how far they wish to take this quote literally, but I'm pretty sure somebody who used rehabiliation centres to recruit suicide bombers [0, 1] would be termed a terrorist by most people today.
Yes, but if those viewpoints come from “reputed” media organizations, there’s a problem.
Like if bbc called bin Laden an “activist”, I’m sure we’d have a very different reaction. It’s just unfortunate, that western media organizations paint people as “activists” or “freedom fighters” if it affects countries they don’t like, but the same acts would receive very different labels if this individual was doing something that affects the Us or Europe.
Whether the person is an activist depends on an individual's viewpoint.