A Malaysian man sentenced to death in Singapore for murdering an eight-year-old Chinese girl will be hanged on Friday, his lawyer said.

The family of Took Leng How has been notified of his execution at Changi Prison, his lawyer Subhas Anandan said today.

The 24-year-old Took's plea for clemency had been earlier rejected by Singapore President SR Nathan.

"I am told it is definitely going to take place tomorrow," the lawyer said.

"The undertaker has been told to be on standby for tomorrow. We arranged for the family to meet the undertaker at our office," he told AFP .

Took, who had been working in Singapore as a vegetable packer, was convicted of strangling Huang Na with his bare hands in October 2004, in a case that gripped the city-state which has a very low crime rate.

He then wrapped her body in nine layers of plastic bags in a store room and stuffed it into a cardboard box sealed with adhesive tape.

To hang at dawn

According to news reports, he had coaxed her into the storeroom for a game of hide and seek, before accidentally knocking her head against some boxes, panicking and then strangling her.

Her disappearance sparked a massive search by police and volunteers. And after briefly fleeing to Malaysia, Took eventually gave himself up and led officers to the girl's remains.

Took was found guilty in August last year of murder, a crime that carries the mandatory death penalty in Singapore.

He sought presidential clemency after the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal against the conviction.

Singapore carries out the death penalty by hanging and maintains that capital punishment is an effective crime deterrent despite criticism from international human rights groups.

Death row convicts are hanged at dawn on Fridays.

Since Singapore's independence in 1965, the president has granted clemency only six times.