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Image source, ReutersImage caption, Adnan Syed reacts after a court overturned his 2000 murder convictionA Maryland appeals court has reinstated Adnan Syed's murder conviction and sentence just months after he was released from prison. Syed was convicted of the 1999 murder of his high school girlfriend Hae Min Lee and spent more than 20 years in prison. He has maintained his innocence and fought to appeal his ruling for decades, a true crime story made famous by the hit podcast Serial. Syed was cleared of all charges in September 2022, after the Baltimore state's attorney's office said its year-long investigation revealed Syed had been wrongfully convicted of strangling and killing Ms Lee. New DNA evidence showed he was not involved in her death, the office said.But in an extraordinary move in March 2023, a Maryland appeals court reinstated Syed's conviction and sentence, demanding a new hearing to determine whether he should remain free. Why was Adnan Syed's conviction reinstated? On 28 March 2023, an appellate court reinstated Syed's conviction for the murder of Ms Lee. In a 2-1 decision, the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled that the lower court failed to give Ms Lee's family sufficient notice of the September 2022 hearing where Syed's conviction was ultimately vacated, as required by the state's law. Ms Lee's brother, Young Lee, who represented Ms Lee on behalf of the court, was only given one business day's notice before the September hearing. The court ruled this was insufficient to allow Mr Lee to attend the hearing in person. Instead, Mr Lee attended the hearing online. "We remand for a new, legally compliant, and transparent hearing on the motion to vacate, where Mr. Lee is given notice of the hearing that is sufficient to allow him to attend in person," the court said. Will Adnan Syed go back to jail? Syed does not have to return to prison for now. The court's order to reinstate his conviction and sentence does not go into effect for 60 days. During that time, a new hearing will be scheduled. "The appeal was not about Adnan's innocence but about notice," said Erica J Suter, Mr Syed's attorney. Ms Suter, the director of the Innocence Project Clinic at the University of Baltimore, plans to appeal the decision to reinstate Syed's conviction. Serial podcast asks: Who killed Hae Min Lee? More than a decade after Syed was sent to prison, Rabia Chaudry, a Baltimore-based lawyer and family friend of the Syeds, emailed a journalist named Sarah Koenig and asked her to re-investigate Lee's murder. That email helped launch the first season of the podcast Serial. The show premiered in autumn 2014 and each episode tried to piece together a timeline of what happened the night Ms Lee was killed. At the heart of the story is the the question: Who killed Hae Min Lee?"For the last year I've spent every working day trying to figure out where a high school kid was for an hour after school one day in 1999," Ms Koenig says in the first episode.Only now, the "kids" she interviewed were adults and some of their stories had changed.As each episode revealed new details - and potential new suspects - internet sleuths and armchair detectives sprang into action and argued their theories on social media.Within months, the chatter around Syed's case would ultimately help him win a new trial.Why was Adnan Syed's conviction overturned? In an episode of Serial released after Adnan Syed's conviction was overturned, Ms Koenig lays out why the case was thrown out. She says his lawyers argued new evidence had emerged showing that during the original trial prosecutors failed to investigate and rule out two potential suspects who were known to detectives at the time. Syed's lawyers also questioned the reliability of witness statements and mobile phone evidence originally used to convict him. A judge agreed and overturned Syed's conviction. The state's attorney's office later cleared Syed of all charges on the basis of that new evidence, as well as multiple rounds of DNA testing that revealed his DNA was not present on any of the victims' clothing. "As a representative of the institution, it is my responsibility to acknowledge and apologise to the family of Hae Min Lee and Adnan Syed," said Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby. Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, The Serial podcast is hosted by journalist Sarah KoenigWhy was the Serial podcast so popular? Serial helped ignite the popularity of podcasts. Ms Koenig's signature confessional style, as well as the true crime topic, kept listeners returning - and downloading - the show every week. The first season of Serial has been downloaded more than 300m times and the show is widely cited as one of the most popular podcasts in the world.Though subsequent seasons of the show were less popular, in many ways, Ms Koenig and her team helped create the formula for a "bingeable" podcast. But did it really help Mr Syed? In 2015, Syed was granted a new trial based, in part, on new evidence uncovered while making Serial.But a judge also denied his request for bail. He remained imprisoned for years as his legal team argued for a new trial and tried to appeal against his conviction all the way to the Supreme Court. In 2019, HBO premiered a four-part documentary series produced by Ms Chaudry called The Case Against Adnan Syed.The series argued that Syed, who is Muslim, was convicted, in part, because of racial bias. It ultimately revealed that forensic analyses had found no trace of his DNA on Lee's body at the time of the murder. Where does this leave Hae Min Lee's family? The Lee family refused to participate in Serial and has always maintained they believe Syed was rightfully convicted and justice was served during the original trial.In 2016, when Syed was granted a new trial, the family told reporters that the podcast had "reopened wounds few can imagine", according to the Baltimore Sun. They also said they believed people had been misinformed by the podcast and regretted that "so few [were] willing to speak up for Hae". Before the judge ruled on Monday, Young Lee, the victim's brother, made an emotional plea before the court on behalf of the family. "This is not a podcast for me. This is real life - a never-ending nightmare for 20-plus years."