CHICAGO (Reuters) - Four African-Americans accused of attacking an 18-year-old disabled man on Facebook Live while making anti-white racial taunts pleaded not guilty in a Chicago courthouse on Friday.

The attack on the man who authorities described as having "mental health challenges" drew international outrage after the video was widely shared on social media. The victim, who is white, was tied up for four or five hours, gagged and beaten, his scalp was cut and he was forced to drink toilet water, police said.

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14 PHOTOS Man’s apparent torture streamed on Facebook Live See Gallery Man’s apparent torture streamed on Facebook Live A combination photo shows four people charged with felonies for the beating of a man with mental health issues, L-R top row: Brittany Covington, 18, Jordan Hill, 18, bottom row: Tanishia Covington, 24, and Tesfaye Cooper, 18, shown in Chicago Police Department photos released in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. January 5, 2017. (Courtesy Chicago Police Department/Handout via REUTERS) #BREAKING: Chicago Police tell FOX 32 that four people are in custody after man tied up, tortured on Facebook Live… https://t.co/J6nUXHzXty Chicago Police Commander Kevin Duffin, right, speaks during a news conference Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017 in Chicago, on the hate crime and other charges filed against four individuals for an attack on a man that was captured on a Facebook video. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribuen/TNS via Getty Images) Chicago police call the Facebook Live video attack "a brutal attack on an adult male with special needs" https://t.co/JALyjZ9h36 Jordan Hill, 18, one of four people charged with felonies for the beating of a man with mental health issues, is shown in this Chicago Police Department photo released in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. January 5, 2017. (Courtesy Chicago Police Department/Handout via REUTERS) Brittany Covington, 18, one of four people charged with felonies for the beating of a man with mental health issues, is shown in this Chicago Police Department photo released in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. January 5, 2017. (Courtesy Chicago Police Department/Handout via REUTERS) Tanishia Covington, 24, one of four people charged with felonies for the beating of a man with mental health issues, is shown in this Chicago Police Department photo released in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. January 5, 2017. (Courtesy Chicago Police Department/Handout via REUTERS) Tesfaye Cooper, 18, one of four people charged with felonies for the beating of a man with mental health issues, is shown in this Chicago Police Department photo released in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. January 5, 2017. (Courtesy Chicago Police Department/Handout via REUTERS) Four people in custody after Facebook Live video shows a man being tortured. "Fuck Donald Trump" can be heard… https://t.co/b5vxvvJXke Chicago Police Commander Kevin Duffin speaks during a news conference Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017 in Chicago, on the hate crime and other charges filed against four individuals for an attack on a man that was captured on a Facebook video. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribuen/TNS via Getty Images) CPD press conference regarding disturbing live social media video depicting a battery ; victim was tied up https://t.co/jDrjfz4sJV Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson speaks during a news conference Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017 in Chicago, on the hate crime and other charges filed against four individuals for an attack on a man that was captured on a Facebook video. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribuen/TNS via Getty Images) Regarding the disturbing video that surfaced on social media of a battery: Incident is under investigation/suspects… https://t.co/zpaCojhZH3 4 charged with hate crimes in torture of teen with special needs in Facebook Live video: https://t.co/10fYzkemao https://t.co/UrLU6C6uT7 Up Next See Gallery Discover More Like This HIDE CAPTION SHOW CAPTION of SEE ALL BACK TO SLIDE

The four defendants were each charged with a hate crime, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated unlawful restraint and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

Jordan Hill, 18, Tesfaye Cooper, 18 and sisters Brittany Covington, 19, and Tanishia Covington, 24, have remained in jail since they were arrested for the Jan. 3 incident.

The victim's family told authorities that they had received overwhelming support on social media. The incident also drew the attention of then-U.S. President Barack Obama, who called it "terrible" in an interview with Chicago's ABC affiliate.

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Police said the victim knew at least one of his accused tormentors, meeting Hill at a McDonald's restaurant in a Chicago suburb during the last week of December.

Hill picked up the victim in a stolen van, police said. While the victim's parents reported him missing, their son and Hill spent the next two days together, visiting friends and sleeping in the van.

On Jan. 3, a "play fight" between the two in the Covington sisters' apartment escalated, police said.

In the video, the attackers could be heard making comments about "white people" as the victim cowered in a corner, his mouth taped shut.

WATCH: Chicago Police Arrest 4 Suspects Who Tortured A Victim On Facebook Live

At least one of the attackers could also be heard saying obscenities about Donald Trump, who was then president-elect. Police said they did not know whether the victim was a Trump supporter.

Alerted to the incident by neighbors who complained of noise coming from the apartment, police found the victim outside in freezing weather wearing only a tank top, shorts and sandals.

He was taken to a hospital and later released. Members of the public alerted investigators to the Facebook Live video.

(Reporting by Robert Chiarito, additional reporting by Brendan O'Brien; Editing by Andrew Hay)

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