Lawyers representing Muhammad Khattak, one of three alleged gang members pictured alongside Mayor Rob Ford in a now notorious photo, are asking the courts to give them access to the video files police say they’ve recovered.

And they’re inviting Ford to join them in their application.

Last Thursday, at a bombshell news conference, Police Chief Bill Blair announced he now has two video clips relevant to extortion charges laid against the mayor’s “close friend” Alexander “Sandro” Lisi.

One of those clips is a video of the mayor appearing to smoke crack cocaine and utter racist and homophobic remarks. It is unknown what’s on the second clip, or if the mayor is in it.

Investigators, using data recovery software, only just retrieved the clips last week, police say, from a hard drive that was confiscated several months ago from one of dozens of people arrested in the Project Traveller raids. On June 13, police, armed with search warrants, swept up alleged members of the Dixon City Bloods.

On Friday morning, in front of Superior Court Justice Ian Nordheimer, defence lawyers Nathan Gorham and Daniel Brown plan to argue that when police seize items using a search warrant, any “interested party” can make an application to view or receive copies of that evidence.

Because Muhammad Kattak was arrested in Project Traveller and because he is in the picture that has been widely associated with the video, it’s important, in order to defend him, to know what’s contained in both the digital video files, explained Brown.

“We believe that where there’s smoke there’s fire, and we believe it’s in our client’s interest, in the interest of justice and in the public’s interest, that the video be ordered released,” said Gorham, who has been representing Khattak since his arrest in June.

If successful, the judge could rule that within days the lawyers be given access to view or be given a copy of the files.

“Given that the mayor is an interested party and he says he wants to see these videos, he can join us in our application to gain access to these videos on Friday,” said Brown.

On Tuesday — during his stunning admission that he has smoked crack cocaine — Ford again reiterated that he would like to see the video.

“I want everyone in the city to see this tape,” he said. “I’d like to see this tape. I don’t even recall there being a tape or a video and I know that, so I want to see the state that I was in.”