Egyptian prosecutors ordered on Saturday a police officer and three low-ranking policemen detained for four days, pending investigation over the death of fish vendor Magdy Makeen in police custody last month.

The prosecutors released six other policemen detained for questioning over Makeen’s death on bail of EGP 3,000 each.

Last month, Magdy Makeen, a 53-year-old fish vendor, died at a police station in a working-class Cairo neighbourhood shortly after he was arrested during a brawl with a policeman. 

An autopsy report by the state's forensic medicine authority said the post-mortem examination revealed Makeen had been subjected to torture, prosecutors said.

The four men face charges of "beating that led to death," causing injuries mentioned in the autopsy report, as well as "willfully harming their place of work (interior ministry)."

The policemen have denied physically assaulting Makeen or the two other people who were arrested with him.

Earlier this year, Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi pledged to hold accountable policemen guilty of "violations" after a series of deaths in police custody, allegedly caused by torture, sparked public outcry.

The interior ministry has stated that such violations represent isolated incidents.