British author Alan Shadrake speaks during the launch of his book Once a Jolly Hangman in Singapore on Saturday.

British author and freelance journalist Alan Shadrake, 75, who was arrested in Singapore while promoting his book on executions (as reported earlier on MobyLives here), was released on bail Tuesday pending further investigations by police.

According to a Agence France Presse wire report, “a local activist posted bail of 10,000 Singapore dollars (47,000 pounds) for him.” Shadrake is facing charges of criminal defamation and contempt of court, which are punishable by jail and fines for his book Once a Jolly Hangman: Singapore Justice in the Dock which addresses the governments use of the death penalty.

“Critics say Singapore, which has only five million people, has one of the world’s highest rates of executions but the government refuses to disclose any numbers and maintains that capital punishment helps keep crime rates low,” observes the AFP report.

Upon release a haggard-looking Shadrake told the AFP “he had hardly slept ‘since they dragged me out of bed. I’ve had a few hours of sleep on a very hard floor and I’ve been sitting at the desk being interrogated all day long explaining all the chapters of the book and going through the history of the book, my research, why I did the book.'”

According to the AFP:

Amnesty International earlier urged Singapore’s government to immediately release the elderly author.

“Singapore uses criminal defamation laws to silence critics of government policies,” Donna Guest, Amnesty’s Asia Pacific Deputy Director, said in London.

“The Singapore government should release Shadrake at once.”

She added: “If Singapore aspires to be a global media city, it needs to respect global human rights standards for freedom of expression… Singapore should get rid of both its criminal defamation laws and the death penalty.”

Shadrake’s passport has been impounded to prevent him from leaving Singapore until the case is resolved. Hearings for the case are scheduled to begin July 30th.