Muhammad A. Aziz and Khalil Islam were convicted of killing Malcolm X 55 years ago, and now the two men will be exonerated over evidence withheld by the FBI and the NYPD.
via: NBC News
The men — Muhammad A. Aziz and Khalil Islam — always maintained their innocence in the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X, who rose to become one of the most prominent leaders of the civil rights movement.
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance and lawyers representing the two men first told The New York Times that they expected Aziz’s and Islam’s names to be cleared Thursday.
Vance and the Innocence Project, which represents the two men, confirmed to NBC News that they would “move to vacate the wrongful convictions of two individuals for the murder of Malcolm X” on Thursday afternoon.
Islam died in 2009, but Aziz, who is in his 80s, continued to fight to clear his record, according to the Innocence Project.
The development follows a 22-month investigation into the case and decades of speculation that it was mishandled from the start.
Malcolm X was assassinated Feb. 21, 1965, at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City, where hundreds had gathered to hear him speak. Inside the ballroom, three men opened fire, striking him onstage.
Three members of the Nation of Islam political and religious group were arrested: Mujahid Abdul Halim, then known as Talmadge Hayer and Thomas Hagan; Aziz, then known as Norman 3X Butler; and Islam, then known as Thomas 15X Johnson.
They were convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1966. Following the 2020 release of the Netflix documentary series, “Who Killed Malcolm X?”, Vance announced he would take up the case.
This story is still developing.
