Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns Afghan citizen-journalist Javid Noori’s summary execution by Taliban fighters at a roadblock in the western province of Farah on 5 January, the RSF said in a report on Tuesday.

Noori, who worked for the Farah regional government as well as hosting two programs on Radio Neshat, was travelling on a bus with around 30 other passengers when it was stopped and searched at a Taliban roadblock, the RSF said.

The Taliban shot him after finishing their search. “He was killed after being checked and then moved to one side,” a witness said, as quoted by RSF. The Taliban later issued a formal statement announcing “the execution of an enemy officer during a control.”

Aged 27, Noori began hosting a Radio Neshat programme called “Psychology of the Green Life” in 2016, after completing his psychology studies at the University of Kabul, the report said. For the past year, he had also been hosting the “Friday evening” program on social issues.

“This summary execution is the first death of a journalist in 2019 to be registered on RSF’s barometer,” said Reza Moini, the head of RSF’s Afghanistan-Iran desk.

“There is an urgent need to end such practices. We reiterate our appeal to the international community to condition the start of any talks with the Taliban on their giving an explicit undertaking to respect international humanitarian law’s basic treaties, starting with the Geneva Conventions,” he added.

The world’s deadliest country for the media in 2018, with a total of 15 journalists killed, Afghanistan is ranked 118th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2018 World Press Freedom Index.