Was Adnan Syed a Friend or Victim of Bilal Ahmed?

A deep look into Adnan's former Youth Advisor gives rise to some heavy questions regarding his influence over Adnan in the days surrounding Hae Min Lee's death.

If you’ve followed the Hae Min Lee case in the media, then you likely have at least some awareness of a man named Bilal Ahmed. 

BUT even the most seasoned followers of the case may not have all the details available on this guy because he appears to go under-reported in the storyline as a major player in Adnan’s life leading up to Hae’s death. 

I recently did a more thorough look into Bilal, and was appalled at what I discovered. 

It’s vile and heartbreaking on so many levels…😨

AND it lends to the question of HOW MUCH of a role (if any) did this guy play in the death of a young, teenaged Hae Min Lee?

So WHO exactly is Bilal Ahmed? 

He’s currently a convicted felon.

BUT…

Back in 1999 he was Adnan’s Youth Advisor at the mosque. Bilal was married at the time, with kids, and was attending a college for Dentistry.

As the Youth Advisor, Bilal mentored kids (different age groups throughout the years) in the doctrine and lifestyle of the Muslim faith. Families of the community trusted him, but would later learn to regret that decision.

The boundary between mentor and friend appears to be quite blurry in his relationship with Adnan. Bilal, who’s a decade older than Adnan, ends up signing an AT&T cellular contract for teenage Adnan, less than 72 hours before Hae Min Lee was murdered.😐

This would be THE infamous cell phone that helped convict Adnan of murdering his ex-girlfriend. 

The cell phone not only connected Adnan to Jay the day of the crime, but would lead to a whirlwind investigation of cell pings, witness statements, and a teenage love story to untangle one diary page at a time. 

During the investigation, it came out that Bilal also owned three government-issued cell phones, one of which appears to have been lent out to Adnan for an undetermined time prior to buying him his own. Adnan’s high school friend, Peter Billingsly, reports that Adnan had a Sprint phone prior to his new one, and Bilal’s Sprint cell records confirm this because Peter’s phone number (ending in 6482) is recognized on the call record to one of the three phones. Peter and Bilal were not friends. 

You might be asking…

WHY did Bilal, a Mosque Youth Advisor & dental student, have three government-issued phones?

IDK.

Your guess is as good as mine. 

Speculation has circulated on Reddit that Bilal may have been some sort of FBI criminal informant, but I just can’t confirm that with my own research. We have to put a pin in it for now.

Ok, so moving on…

Here we have Bilal, a well-trusted man in the Muslim community. Father, husband, and mentor to the youth.

AND then there’s Adnan. 

A 17-year old high school kid whose family is very active in the Muslim community. His family takes the religious law seriously, and Adnan seems to be engaged in his faith up to an extent. The level of dedication to the doctrine and responsibilities appears to have been a challenge for Adnan. 

But, this is really no surprise. 

Teenagers are well-known to push for independence and exploration, and struggling with family and faith expectations is not uncommon.

Through witness statements and Hae’s diary, we get a glimpse into Adnan’s family’s expectations…

One of which was that dating was forbidden. 

In fact, dating was SO frowned upon that Adnan’s parents showed up at a school dance that he attended with Hae without his parent’s permission. Embarrassment surely ensued for 17-year old Adnan that evening. Hae, his girlfriend at the time, struggled with the religious stressors that came between them, and they had a series of breakups that eventually led to the final split.

Here’s a quote from Hae’s diary:

“It's just all the things that stand in the middle, his religion and Muslim customs all are in the way. It irks me to know that I am against his religion. He called me a devil a few times. I knew he was only joking, but it's somewhat true.”

Bilal, the Youth Advisor, does Adnan no favors as a trusted adult during this time.

Instead of guiding Adnan through the difficulties of his religious responsibilities, Bilal Ahmed played the role as best buddy by enabling Adnan to disobey his parents. 

He signed that AT&T cellular contract for Adnan’s phone. Almost immediately, it was used in a questionable sequence of events that led up to Hae’s death the following day. 

BTW- Having a cellphone was a pretty big deal in 1999. 

They were somewhat costly. Calls were dimed and nickeled for every minute used, so talking too long on the phone could quickly lead to an expensive bill at the end of the month. 

If you were a young adult during that time, you likely had that familiar anxiety of using too many minutes when chatting on the phone.

But Bilal had no concerns about putting his name on the contract.

Bilal claimed that Adnan was the one who was going to pay for the bill, but as we know, signing a contract would ultimately be a risk if Adnan’s promise fell through. 

So WHY would Bilal put himself in this position?

Was he just trying to be the hip, cool Youth Advisor who goes above and beyond for the kids he mentored?

Maybe.🧐

Butttt…

What if I told you that Bilal’s behaviors during this timeframe were MUCH MORE SINISTER than that?

Later the SAME year Hae was murdered, Bilal Ahmed was charged with a FOURTH DEGREE SEXUAL OFFENSE. 

He had inappropriate sexual relations with a 14-year old boy.  

This, of course, caused his wife to divorce him, but the egregious behavior did not end there.

In 2017, Bilal Ahmed was sent to prison for 14 felony counts of sexual abuse. He had been sexually assaulting several of his male patients while they were sedated in the dental chair. One man allegedly woke up to Bilal inserting his privates into the man’s mouth. He was sentenced to 16.5 years for these crimes. 

Knowing this behavior is Bilal’s norm, it causes HUGE concern over his relationship, influence, and intentions with Adnan in 1999. 

Was Bilal playing nice with Adnan in an effort to groom him? 

What type of influence did Bilal have on this 17-year old kid? And why had the defense seemingly gone quiet regarding Bilal’s involvement during that time period?

Did these 3 government-issued phones have anything to do with being an informant for the FBI? And how would that play out in regards to him having a possible circle of safety around him legally?

Bilal was Adnan’s first jailhouse call, and he was known to visit Adnan in jail almost as frequently as Adnan’s defense team in the visitation log.

That goes to confirm not only the closeness and trust Adnan had in Bilal, but also the confidence in him to help with the legal and emotional troubles he endured. 

Does this suggest Bilal’s possible involvement in Adnan’s association with Hae’s death?

Did Bilal KNOW what Adnan was up to those days leading to her murder?

Did Bilal SUPPORT Adnan in the demise of Hae?

Did Bilal ENCOURAGE it?

Hae Min Lee was Adnan’s first love. They were one another’s first sexual partners. Dating was against the Islamic doctrine, but the act of adultery (known as zina in Islamic) is a huge deal.

In the grand jury notes, Bilal is noted as having been asked a similar question from the jury about dating and adultery in their faith. The notes are a bit confusing, but it appears that adultery is confirmed to be a much stronger offense in his own description.

The Grand Jury notes of Bilal’s testimony state, “dating is too close for comfort to adultery so it’s frowned…”

Adnan and Hae weren’t married, but Hae was his first and only LOVE. The one he still wanted according to Hae’s diary.

BUT… Hae moved on.

She slept with her NEW LOVE, Don, days before being murdered.

Did Adnan know this? IDK.

And if he did, what would his questionable Youth Advisor, who was moonlighting as a child predator with an eye for males, say to this broken-hearted teen boy? 

Again, IDK.

But it definitely leaves room for concern and questions.

The rabbit hole goes even further into Bilal’s connections with Adnan’s case. He’s clearly Adnan’s go-to person after the arrest. Bilal helped coordinate legal funds from the local muslim community, and made sure to set Adnan up with defense attorney, Cristina Gutierrez. She formerly represented Bilal prior to Adnan’s arrest. 

AND despite his involvement with Adnan in the time frame surrounding Hae’s murder…

Bilal never testified in the 2 trials. 

He testified in the Grand Jury, but was excluded from the criminal trials due to a “conflict of interest”. I can’t seem to figure out exactly what that conflict of interest was regarding, but low and behold, Bilal, who was clearly active in Adnan’s life at that time, did not take the stand as a witness.

On top of being sentenced to prison for egregious sex crimes, Bilal was also charged with Healthcare fraud of over 5 MILLION dollars. 

The dude has issues.

He’s not immune to lying, stealing, and crossing sexual boundaries. He’s proven to be a man of shady, selfish intentions, and he was Adnan’s MENTOR and friend during the timeframe of Hae’s murder. 

So…

HOW does this impact our perspective and understanding of Adnan’s guilt or innocence? 

Is this an unfortunate connection to Bilal? Was he a good mentor to Adnan, but just a shitty person to many other people around him? Or was Bilal so involved in helping Adnan after the arrest because he knew more information. He wanted to protect the full truth.

IDK. 

But it’s definitely eye-opening to see the weight and depth of this person involved in the case of Hae Min Lee because it’s not something that made it’s way into the HBO documentary on Adnan Syed, or many other sources that lean towards Adnan’s innocence. 

Transparency helps give us more clarity, so we can use our best discernment to seek out the truth.

What are your thoughts?