Mohd Afzal Guru, facing the gallows for his role in the attack on Parliament, will file a curative petition before the Supreme Court for a review of the death sentence before he approaches the President for clemency.

"We want to exhaust all legal remedies available to him before approaching the President," sources close to him told PTI.

The petition is likely to be filed after the Diwali break.

The curative petition will seek a relook of the Apex Court's August 4, 2005, judgement, upholding the death penalty imposed on Afzal by the trial court.

He is currently lodged in Tihar jail.

After approaching the apex court, he may file a mercy plea before the President seeking commutation of his death sentence. His family had earlier this month filed a similar petition before the President.

The Home Ministry has already initiated a process of legal consultation to form its opinion on the mercy plea, forwarded to it for scrutiny by the Rashtrapati Bhawan earlier this month.

According to legal provisions, a convict facing capital punishment cannot be hanged till the pendency of his or her clemency petition.

In view of this, Tihar jail authorities have also put on hold the arrangements they were making for hanging the former Jammu and Kashmir [Images] Liberation Front member on Friday.

The Apex Court order giving death sentence to Afzal for his involvement in the December 13, 2001 attack on Parliament evoked mixed reaction in Jammu and Kashmir with Chief Minister Ghulam [Images] Nabi Azad urging the Centre for commutation of his death sentence.