Adnan Syed from Serial granted appeal

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Adnan SyedImage source, AP
Image caption,

Adnan Syed was sentenced to life plus 30 years for killing his ex

Adnan Syed, who was convicted in 2000 for killing his ex-girlfriend when he was 17-years-old, has won the right to appeal.

His case became famous in the hit podcast Serial when reporter Sarah Koenig started looking into it.

She wanted to investigate whether he'd had a fair trial and if his attorney had defended him properly.

Syed was found guilty of strangling Hae Min Lee in Baltimore, in the US, after she broke-up with him.

Image caption,

Reporter, Sarah Koenig (left), started a weekly podcast investigating Adnan's case

He was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years.

Syed had already failed to win an appeal through the standard court system - so he went to the Court of Special Appeals in January 2014.

"The Application for Leave to Appeal be and hereby is granted," Chief Judge Peter B. Krauser ruled on Friday.

Image source, PA
Image caption,

Adnan's mum, Shamim Syed, and his brother, Yusef

Image source, PA
Image caption,

Shamim has kept all of Adnan's old school drawings and photos

It means Syed's legal team can now produce new evidence which could give him an alibi.

A key witness in the case, a friend of his Asia McClain, claims to have seen him in the library when it's claimed he killed his ex.

The fact that Syed's first lawyer, Cristina Gutierrez, failed to submit this evidence was one of the arguments used to win an appeal.

Serial became a global hit being downloaded and streamed more than 21 million times.

A second series is due out later this year.

Image source, Serial podcast

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