Adnan Syed of 'Serial' loses request for bail while waiting for retrial

Syed was sentenced to life in jail in 2000

Adnan Syed leaves the Baltimore City Circuit Courthouse in Baltimore, Maryland February 5, 2016 (Reuters)

A man whose celebrated murder conviction was recently vacated, has been told that he stay in jail while he awaits a new trial.

Adnan Syed, whose story and murder conviction was featured in the podcast Serial, was told by a Baltimore judge that his request to be released had been turned down. The judge said he had taken the decision as there was a pending appeal from prosecutors, who rejected the decision to vacate his trial.

Syed was convicted in the killing of his high school girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, and sentenced to life in prison in 2000.

Adnan Syed arrives at court in Baltimore for a hearing (AP)

His case was the centerpiece for the first season of Serial and he was granted a new trial last summer because his original trial lawyer failed to cross-examine a state witness who presented possibly unreliable cell tower data linking Syed to Ms Lee’s burial site.

The Associated Press said that Baltimore Circuit Judge Martin Welch had turned down the request from Syed’s legal team.

His lawyer, Justin Brown, argued in court filings that the appeals process could take years and that Syed has shown he is good candidate for release pending a new trial. He said that his client was not a flight risk.

On Thursday, Mr Brown told the Baltimore Sun: “Adnan has been locked up for 17 years in some of the most dangerous places in our society yet he has not done anything violent. In fact, he has been a model prisoner.”