Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Muslimah Next Door

Home
Muslim
Adnan Syed Granted a Retrial, ‘He’s Not Convicted Anymore.’

Adnan Syed Granted a Retrial, ‘He’s Not Convicted Anymore.’

Last updated on: June 30, 2016 at 7:03 pm by Dilshad Ali

Adnan Syed Granted a Retrial, ‘He’s Not Convicted Anymore.’ 2016-06-30T19:03:51-04:00 Dilshad Ali

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Adnan Syed – photo courtesy of Rabia Chaudry’s Split the Moon site.

From one of the first blog posts Rabia Chaudry wrote about her childhood friend, Adnan Syed:

For 15 years I’ve believed Adnan as he’s held on to his innocence. It has been a drawn out trauma for those of us who know and love Adnan. I’ve run around with his case files for years, sometimes in the trunk of my car, sometimes storing them at my mothers, sometimes at Adnan’s parents. I held on to them through a bad marriage, divorce, single parenthood, remarriage, moving, and moving, and moving. I read them, forgot them, revisited them, forgot things again. Over 5 years, then 10, then 15 many details faded, but a few remained rock solid. Parts of his trial, the visits to him, the appeals, the people involved in the case – it was snips of a movie. Watching him grow from a skinny teenager with sparse facial hair to a big, broad man in prison was like a movie. But it wasn’t a movie. It was his life.

Today, Adnan Syed has been granted a new trial by Baltimore City Courts. Call it a Ramadan miracle. Call it what you want. I call it a combination of divine guidance plus the never ending, day-and-night dedicated hard work of Rabia first and a dedicated team alongside her.

According to The Daily Beast:

Adnan Syed, the subject of the Serial podcast, has been granted a retrial, his attorney announced Thursday on Twitter. His conviction was also thrown out. Syed was found guilty for the 1999 murder of his high school girlfriend, Hae Min Lee and sentenced to life in prison in 2000. They were both students at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore at the time. Syed’s case was the subject of the 2014 inaugural season of the Serial podcast, which outlined potential holes in the prosecution’s case against Syed and questioned the adequacy of his legal counsel.

To watch the trajectory of this story has been to witness and be taught lessons in dedication, sorrow, heartbreak, perserverence and all-out, never ending belief in the innocence of one man. I had the immense fortune of becoming friends with Rabia when she joined Patheos Muslim, first as a columnist for Altmuslim and later as the host of her own blog, Split the Moon, where she wrote on issues of justice, Islam, marriage, divorce, immigration and later chronicled the episodes of Serial, which first turned the world’s attention on Adnan’s case (after Rabia sent the case to them and urged them to investigate this story in their first season).

As Serial took off, she moved from Patheos to her own independent site and worked every angle possible to keep the world’s attention on Adnan and Serial, amassing a global following in the millions of supporters who urged her and the team on in their fight for justice. It’s been a masterful fight, with no stone left unturned. Together with lead investigator Justin Brown and lawyers Susan Simpson and Colin Miller, who joined Rabia on the Undisclosed podcast, they dug into the weeds of the case and investigate everything that Serial hadn’t.

Indeed, it was dedicated work of Susan (along with Rabia and Colin) on the cell phone towers records (among other things) that led Judge Welch to call for a retrial, said Brown in this press conference.

It’s not for nothing that this amazing news came out today, on the 25th fast of Ramadan, a month where Muslims the world over are bent in prayer and fasting, making du’a for whatever they are yearning for. I’m sure the prayers for Adnan were as strong as ever this month. And God listened. And, inshAllah He will bring this case to a close, freedom for Adnan and true justice for Hae Min Lee.

Said Brown at the press conference: “As of this day, [Adnan’s] conviction is gone. He is not convicted anymore.”

Let that sink in.

Alhamdullilah.

Judge Martin P. Welch

Previous Post

June 12, 2016

'I Will Love Until My Own Pulse Stops' - Multiple Reflections on Orlando Shootings

Next Post

July 25, 2016 On Autism and Trust: The Saddest Happy Person

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A Global Voice for Autism Autism Awareness Month 2016 Autism Awareness Month 2017 Autism Interlude Hajj and Eid ul Adha Jenin Autism Project Ramadan Three Questions Uncategorized WISE Global Conference

Select a Month November 2018 October 2018 August 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

According to 1 John, what does perfect love do?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Covers a multitude of sins Never fails Drives out fear Fulfills all the law