The Break Up Analysis

The word “Muslim” carries with it quite a bit of baggage since the horrid day of the 9/11 attack, and even before it as well. Many people recoil at just the sight of a Muslim woman’s covered head. The first thought that comes to mind, for many people, when picturing a Muslim is a rural man wearing a turban and speaking a foreign language. This image has not only greatly bothered many American Muslims; it has massively affected their day-to-day lives. Adnan Syed, for example, was greatly discriminated against in a courtroom whilst fighting for his freedom. How can you possibly defend your innocence when an entire jury has this biased image of you burned into the back of their minds? In episode 2 of the serial podcast, “The Breakup,” Koenig talks about Hae Linn’s dairy containing a crucial part of the evidence that was used in the trail

She mentions how one of the jury members asked to be let go, because of the fact that he knew a Muslim who was abusive to his wife, and that that made him incapable of being fair to the Muslim defendant. That makes you wonder, how many of the jury members had this very same thought and just did not come forward? Also, it is stated that during the trial one of the prosecutors opposing a bail referred to Adnan as a Pakistani, when he is, in fact, an American citizen born and raised in the United States. He tells the judge stories about other Muslim criminals who fled the country after receiving a bail and ended up in Pakistan as fugitives. He talks about how these fugitives murdered their female partners after having their ego damaged, and how it is an honor in the Muslim custom to kill a woman who opposes her husband. Would these statements affect the way a jury would see a Muslim young man who is being blamed for a female’s murder? Even if he was raised in the United States, and not