Lawyer M. Ravi told AFP he would lodge a complaint with the UN special rapporteur for extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions, claiming that his client, Shanmugam Murugesu, 38, had faced discrimination during his trial.

Citing previous cases in Singapore where drug traffickers committing similar offences were let off with prison sentences, Ravi said there was an urgent need to retry the case to prevent a "miscarriage of justice".

"I am certainly desperate to save his life, as a doctor to his patient, as a counsel to his client," he told a press conference, adding he would ask the UN to urge Singapore authorities to stay the execution.

Ravi said he had served a separate notice on Tuesday to Singapore President Sellapan Ramanathan Nathan, who last week rejected a clemency appeal, pleading that the case be reopened for him to submit new arguments to court.

Murugesu, a former star athlete who was convicted of trying to import 1,029.8 grams (36 ounces) of cannabis, was convicted and sentenced to death by the High Court in April last year.

Authorities have told his relatives he will be hanged at Changi Prison on Friday, according to a local human rights group, the Think Centre.

Civil rights activists in Singapore are using Murugesu's case to mount a rare public campaign to abolish the death penalty.

The government, which orders the media to report in the "national interest", normally ensures the issue stays out of the headlines in Singapore.

Amnesty International says Singapore has the highest per capita execution rate in the world, with more than 400 people killed between 1991 and 2003.

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