Singapore frees British author on $7,200 bail

A British author arrested in Singapore on charges of criminal defamation and contempt of court for a book on the death penalty has been released on a S$10,000 ($7,262) bail. 

Alan Shadrake, a 75-year-old freelance journalist who frequently travels between Britain and Malaysia, was freed late on Monday from a Singapore police complex where he was kept since his arrest at a hotel on Sunday. 

"I'm feeling pretty shaken at the moment," Shadrake told reporters outside the police complex after he was freed.

"I have to stay in Singapore, I can't leave till the trial," a tired-looking Shadrake said. The trial is set for July 30.

"I've been awake almost the entire time since they dragged me out of bed at 6 am. Sunday morning. I've had a few hours sleep on a very hard floor. I've been sitting at a desk being interrogated all day long explaining all the chapters of the book, going into the history of the book, my research, why I did the book." 

His book, "Once A Jolly Hangman: Singapore Justice in the Dock", was launched in the city-state on Saturday.

The arrest was made following a report that was lodged by the government's Media Development Authority on Friday, the Singapore police said in a statement.

Shadrake has also been served with an application by the attorney-general for "an order of committal for contempt of court", it said.

Singapore imposes the death penalty for crimes such as murder and a mandatory death sentence for drug trafficking.

The crime rate on the island nation of 5 million people is among the lowest in the world.