CAIRO, Feb 28 (Aswat Masriya) - The four people accused of involvement in the killing of a domesticated dog, in an incident caught on a video that went viral, are due to appear before court on March 4, state run news agency MENA reported.  

Initially, three suspects were ordered to detention pending investigation, last week, but the number of defendants rose to four when an additional suspect was arrested. 

The defendants face charges of possessing bladed weapons, subjecting citizens to horror and violating the laws regulating slaughtering animals. Prosecutors considered the latter charge a misdemeanour, since it is stipulated in the Penal Code.   

A video that went viral late Tuesday showed three men beating a strapped dog with knives, eventually killing the dog.

The video has sparked uproar and has prompted a few dozen to protest in Cairo on Saturday in objection to animal rights abuses. 

The three defendants arrested last week had admitted to prosecutors that they had killed the dog, accusing the dog's owner of using it to commit crimes of theft.

They said the dog's owner attempted to steal a shop belonging to one of them, adding that the dog bit another defendant who attempted to stop the theft. 

The defendants said they agreed with the dog owner to kill the dog and in turn renounce a complaint filed against the owner accusing him of theft.

Egypt's Penal Code states that the punishment for killing a domesticated animal or "gravely harming it" is imprisonment for up to a year or a fine of no more than 200 Egyptian pounds.