Muhammad Faizal Mohd Shariff is the second to be executed this year after Tangaraju Suppiah, whose plight attracted international concern.

Justice for Myanmar says 38 companies in Singapore are linked to 78 Myanmar-based companies brokering for the military.

The judge says the cost orders slapped on those who represented death row prisoners are justified, and that lawyers might have 'perfectly valid' reasons for refusing to take up such cases.

This left them with just hours to work through complex legal terminology and procedures to support their suit.

This is the first time that so many inmates have come together to sue the government amid a wave of executions in the city-state.

The city-state is preparing to execute four prisoners in the coming week, a record of sorts matched only by the recent hangings in Myanmar.

This comes less than a week after fellow plaintiff Nazeri Lajim was hanged under controversial circumstances.

The strong statement comes hours after the city-state carried out its fifth execution this year.

He was executed at dawn, the latest in a string of executions over drug offences in the city-state despite increasing scrutiny over its continued use of the death penalty.

Against a backdrop of actions against lawyers who have defended death row inmates, the 64-year-old man was forced to defend himself in one final appeal.

Lawyer M Ravi says Nazeri Lajim, whose execution is fixed for this Friday, is a crucial witness in an ongoing investigation.

Nazeri Lajim is one of 17 death row inmates in Singapore who had filed a suit against the government, accusing it of discrimination and bias in their prosecution.