Advertisement

Adnan Syed murder conviction reinstated after appeal from victim’s family

The murder conviction of Adnan Syed, who spent over 20 years in prison before being exonerated, has been reinstated by a Maryland appeals court.

Mr Syed, 41, was arrested in 1999 for the killing of classmate Hae Min Lee, and spent the next two decades proclaiming his innonence. The story of the case was featured in the hit podcast Serial. In 2022, local prosecutors dropped the charges against Syed, citing new DNA evidence.

The Appellate Court of Mayland held in its ruling, released Tuesday, that the city of Baltimore failed to honour state rules surrounding the rights of victim’s family members to attend hearings surrounding motions to vacate criminal cases involving their relatives, and called for a "legally complaint and transparent" hearing to consider Mr Syed’s case, WBAL reports.

”We stand by the integrity of the evidence that exonerated Adnan and urge the Baltimore Police and States Attorney’s office to find the source of the DNA on the victims shoes and find Hae Min Lee’s actual killer,” Rabia Chaudry, a family friend of Syed’s and public advocate for his innocence, wrote on Twitter.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated with new information.