Dhaka, Dec. 31 (PTI): A Bangladesh court today sentenced two former students to death and handed various jail terms to six persons, including the chief of the banned Ansarullah Bangla Team, for the 2013 killing of an online critic of religious militancy, the first of a string of brutal murders of secular bloggers.

"They (the two former students) shall be hanged by the neck until they are dead," special trial tribunal-3 judge Sayeed Ahmed said, delivering the first verdict in a series of murders of "atheists" in Bangladesh.

Machete-wielding assailants hacked to death Ahmed Rajib Haider, 35, an architect and activist who took part in the Shahbagh movement, near his house in Mirpur in February 2013.

The two former university students have been identified as Md Faisal Bin Nayem alias Dweep and Redwanul Azad Rana, who is absconding.

The court also found Mufti Jasim Uddin Rahmani, the chief of the Ansarullah Bangla Team, and five others guilty of involvement in the murder. Rahmani was sentenced to five years in jail and fined. Maksudul Hasan alias Anik was handed a life term. Md Ehsan Reza alias Rumman, Nayem Sikdar alias Iraj and Nafis Imtiaz were sentenced to 10 years in jail. Sadman Yasir Mahmud was handed a three-year jail term.

The chargesheet mentioned that the former students had vowed to kill "atheist bloggers". They targeted Rajib "for his blog posts", it added.

Since the killing of Rajib, Bangladesh has witnessed the murders of five more secular writers.