Cairo: Egyptian prosecutors ordered two policemen jailed for four days pending further questioning on charges of beating a man to death while in their custody in a case that sparked violent protests this week, legal sources said on Tuesday.

The dead man, identified as Mohammad Abdul Hakim, was earlier arrested by police in the Cairo suburb of Al Moqattam allegedly for possessing drugs. He was taken to the local police station where he lost consciousness allegedly as a result of brutal treatment.

Abdul Hakim, 22, was later moved to hospital where he died. The two policemen denied they had maltreated the suspect, saying he died after having taken an overdose of drugs.

However, a preliminary forensic report said the man had died due to a fracture in the spleen and severe abdomen bleeding, the sources added.

The news of his death angered his relatives, who gathered outside the police station and tried to storm it. They also torched several police vehicles, according to local witnesses. Police clashed with the protesters and fired tear gas to disperse them.

Forty-three protesters were arrested on charges of unlawful assembly and vandalism, the sources said.

The case is the latest involving policemen accused of deadly violence against suspects while in custody.

An Egyptian court began on Tuesday the trial of seven other police officers charged with torturing to death a man during a murder-related interrogation in Giza near Cairo.

In recent years, several Egyptian policemen have been sentenced to prison terms in different abuse cases, signalling a growing crackdown against abusers.

In October last year, Egypt’s top appeals court upheld varying jail sentences against six policemen convicted of torturing a man to death in their custody in the southern city of Luxor. The court also ordered the interior minister, who is responsible for police, to pay 1.5 million in Egyptian pounds (Dh316,000) in compensation to the victim’s family.

Police brutality was a major driving force for a 2011 popular uprising that eventually forced long-standing president Hosni Mubarak to resign.