The Supreme Court on Tuesday permitted Barrister Salman Safdar - lawyer of jailed PTI founder Imran Khan - to meet his client at Adiala Jail.

The court declared Safdar a “friend of the court” and directed him to submit a report on Khan’s living conditions by Wednesday.

A two-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan, allowed Barrister Salman Safdar to access Imran Khan’s barracks in order to assess and report on his living conditions.

“It is appropriate that a report be sought on the living conditions of the PTI founder,” the court said, emphasizing the need for an independent assessment.

Safdar, who represents Imran Khan in over 300 cases, has previously complained about restrictions on meetings with the former prime minister, highlighting that in five months he had been granted only a single five-minute meeting.

Safdar’s remarks on court relief

Outside the Supreme Court, Salman Safdar criticized delays in case hearings and the scheduling of fourteen cases simultaneously, calling it “the worst political revenge.”

He noted that in every case where Imran Khan had received relief, the government had filed appeals, citing the expensive and high-profile nature of the Cypher case as an example of judicial proceedings under intense scrutiny.

During the hearing, the court rejected Latif Khosa’s request to meet Imran Khan, emphasizing that a prior order could not be acted upon without a hearing of the other party.

Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan highlighted that previous reports and medical assessments had been submitted to the court regarding Khan’s condition. Despite this, the Chief Justice noted the need for an updated report, officially appointing Salman Safdar as a friend of the court and expressing full confidence in his assessment.