A fast-track trial court in Bangladesh has sentenced to death two students accused in the 2013 murder of secular blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider.

Of the eight convicts, students Redwanul Azad Rana — who is on the run — and Faisal Bin Nayeem alias Deep were sentenced to death. One convict, Maksudul Hasan alias Anik, was awarded life imprisonment. The three have also been fined 10,000 taka.

Md Ehsan Reza alias Rumman, Nayem Sikdar alias Iraj and Nafis Imtiaz each received a 10-year sentence and a fine of 5,000 taka, reports The Hindu.

Three years' prison term was handed to Sadman Yasir Mahmud along with a 2,000-taka fine.

The seven had been influenced by the chief of outlawed outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team, Mufti Jashimuddin Rahmani, who received a five-year-two-month prison term and was fined 2,000 taka.

Rajib Haider was an architect and blogger who wrote critical articles about growing fanaticism under the pseudonym "Thabababa". He was also an activist and part of the Shahbagh movement, which sought death penalties for 1971 war criminals.

His death was the first of the murder of five bloggers in the country.