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ADNAN'S STORY

Rabia Chaudry

The Search for Truth and Justice After SERIAL

"The first letter I received after being arrested in 1999 was from Rabia. Since that time until now, she has believed in my innocence and been committed to my exoneration. [T]here is no one better to help tell my story, and no one that I trust more to tell it, than Rabia.” Adnan Syed
On February 28, 2000, Adnan Syed was convicted and sentenced to life plus thirty years for the murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, a high school senior in Baltimore, Maryland. From the moment of his arrest, Syed has consistently maintained his innocence. Rabia Chaudry, a family friend, always believed him and has never given up the hope that he might someday be released. By 2013, however, after almost all appeals had been exhausted, things looked bleak. That's when Rabia contacted Sarah Koenig, a producer at This American Life, in the hopes of finding a journalist who would bring greater attention to Adnan's story and might shed new light on the case. Koenig's investigation turned into Serial, an international phenomenon and Peabody Award-winning podcast. Adnan's Story will reexamine the investigation that led to Adnan Syed’s arrest, share his life in prison, cover new evidence and possibilities that have since come to light, and review the recent court successes -including a ruling this week by a Maryland judge to reopen Syed’s case. Woven with personal reflections from Adnan himself, including new never-before-seen letters he penned from prison, the story of his family, community, and public advocate Chaudry, the book offers new insight into the story that captivated the attention of millions as his legal team and investigatory team, along with countless others who have crowd-sourced an investigation like never before, seek to exonerate him and find out the truth of what really happened on that day in 1999. What has captivated the public about Adnan's story are the layers of contradictions, fascinating characters, cultural dissonance, and fog of ambiguity around what really happened to Hae Min Lee. But this is not just a personal story, it is a testament to a thoroughly broken system that convicts tens of thousands of innocent people, and how the power of the media and public can move rigid institutions to bring about justice. Rabia Chaudry is an attorney, a senior fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace, and a national security fellow at the New America Foundation. She is the co-host of Undisclosed, one of the top-ranked podcasts in the iTunes store. She is a frequent public speaker, and her writing has appeared in numerous outlets including Time.com, The Huffington Post, and the Chicago Sun-Times.
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Published 2016-08-09 by St. Martin's Press

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Book announcement Read more...

UK: Century/Random House (5-way auction)

Good news for fans of Serial, the blockbuster podcast series about a Baltimore murder mystery: There will soon be a book about its central character, Adnan Syed. The book is being written by Rabia Chaudry, the lawyer who initially brought Syed’s case to This American Life reporter Sarah Koenig. Chaudry, a Syed family friend who was interviewed on Serial as a believer in Syed’s innocence, started her own podcast about the case after Serial ended last year. Read more...

today news broke that Adnan Syed, subject of the book ADNAN'S STORY by Rabia Chaudry, is officially free. After 23 long years in prison for a crime he did not commit, his conviction was overturned, and the state has dropped all charges against him. Read more...

A page-turner...[Chaudry's] writing is clear, eloquent, and engaging, and her case is convincing.

Chaudry uses her unique perspective to craft a gripping and meticulously detailed account of the case including letters, court transcripts, and documentary evidence that fill in the show’s gaps and provide the latest updates. Readers new to the story will have no trouble following—the narrative is outlined extensively from the beginning—and podcast listeners will find plenty of previously undisclosed material.

Book announcement and Cover reveal Read more...

Title is on Washington Post's Most notable nonfiction books in 2016! Read more...

The case of Adnan Syed, convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend over 15 years ago, captivated the millions who listened to Serial, the This American Life spinoff podcast that debuted in October last year. The man is now the subject of a new book by Rabia Chaudry, who initially brought Syed’s case to the attention of Serial’s host and producer Sarah Koenig. Read more...

Rabia is also one of the hosts of a brand new podcast that just launched yesterday, Undisclosed: The State Vs. Adnan Syed. It’s #1 on the iTunes podcast chart, which is pretty amazing considering they’re just three lawyers, not experienced podcasters. It’s received coverage in many outlets, including NY Times, Rolling Stone, PBS Newshour, Huffington Post, People, Vanity Fair, among many others. Read more...