Serial’s Adnan Syed reveals what he really thinks of journalist Sarah Koenig in new Rabia Choudry book
IT’S the most downloaded podcast in history, now Serial’s Adnan Syed has revealed what he really thinks of the producer, Sarah Koenig.
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IT’S perhaps the most famous murder case of the internet age — now Serial’s Adnan Syed has revealed what he really thinks of the show’s producer, Sarah Koenig, in a new book.
The man convicted of murdering Baltimore high school student Hae Min Lee in 1999 became the subject of the most downloaded podcast in history after being contacted by former This American Life producer Koenig.
In a new book written by his legal champion and family friend Rabia Chaudry, who first brought the case to Koenig’s attention, he reveals what he really thought of his relationship with her during the interviews done over the telephone from prison.
“I could never just talk about my case with Ms Koenig. I had to always analyse and evaluate every response I gave her, because I felt she had a general disposition to believe I was never telling the truth,” he wrote in an edited extract from the book published in The Sunday Times.
Syed said he became upset after learning Koenig struggled to reconcile the fact he seemed so nice, but had been accused of committing murder.
“Ms Koenig had no way of knowing, but she set the tone for me to experience this with one of the first questions she ever asked me. She stated that she had watched the video of my first trial, and she saw me sitting at the defence table during a break in proceedings,” he wrote.
“I was reading a small book, and she asked me what it was. I told her it was a Koran my dad had sent me. She next asked if I was reading it to make the judge think I was religious. That triggered something in me, a hopeless feeling that I would never be able to convince her I was innocent.”
During the show Koenig openly wrestles with her opinion of Syed, weighing evidence against her impression of him as a person and discrepancies in the story. While he realised it might sound “ridiculous”, Syed said he was frustrated by constantly hearing that he was a “nice guy” and people couldn’t understand why he was in prison.
“I just wish someone would say it’s because of the faulty evidence, and not because of me,” he said.
Adnan’s Story, due out on August 9, documents Rabia Chaudry’s version of events following the death and investigation which centred around a group of friends from Baltimore’s Woodlawn High School.
She has been fighting for Syed’s release since 1999 and said she never doubted his innocence.
Her efforts, which include a spin-off podcast called Undisclosed, combined with Serial have succeeded in gaining a new trial for Syed following oversights at the first hearing, the admission of new evidence and a huge amount of public scrutiny on the case.
Chaudry told the Baltimore Sun she believed Syed’s Muslim heritage helped the state construct an account of the murder as an “honour killing” after the couple broke up.
“The state framed an argument based on absolutely no evidence that Adnan’s honour had been besmirched,” she told the Sun.
“They weren’t able to find evidence that Adnan was a violent boyfriend or that he had a history of being abusive, so they had to plug in his religion as a substitute.”
In July, Syed was granted a new trial by Judge Martin Welch after he found Syed’s lawyer at the time, Cristina Gutierrez overlooked significant evidence.
Chaudry said new evidence will also be revealed at the upcoming trial which will be a strong starting point.
The family of Hae Min Lee said they were “very disappointed” by the decision to grant a retrial.
Serial and Sarah Koenig have been contacted for comment.
Find out more about Adnan’s Story here.
Originally published as Serial’s Adnan Syed reveals what he really thinks of journalist Sarah Koenig in new Rabia Choudry book
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