Cairo, March 3 (IANS): An Egyptian criminal court Monday sentenced two policemen to 10 years in jail for killing a political activist in 2010, which resulted in the mass protests that toppled president Hosni Mubarak in 2011, media reported.

Policemen Mahmoud Salah Mahmoud and Awad Ismail Suleiman were accused of torturing blogger Khaled Said, then 28, to death after illegally arresting him in June 2010 at an internet cafe in the coastal city of Alexandria, Xinhua reported citing state-run Nile TV.

The two defendants were sentenced to seven years in October 2011, but the verdict was appealed against.

The police then stated the blogger died of swallowing huge amounts of cannabis, which angered political activists who launched a Facebook page titled 'We Are all Khaled Said'.

The page urged people to stage massive protests against police Jan 25, 2011, which later developed into calls for removing Mubarak after a number of protestors were killed during the unrest.