Story at a glance
- Muhammed A. Aziz and Khalil Islam were charged with murdering human-rights activist Malcolm X in 1965.
- But after a Netflix documentary raised doubts about both mens’ guilt, the Manhattan district attorney’s office opened a new investigation.
- Now the two men are expected to be exonerated this week.
Two men that were found guilty of assassinating human-rights activist Malcolm X more than 50 years ago will have their convictions thrown out.
AP
Muhammed A. Aziz and Khalil Islam spent decades in prison for murdering Malcolm X on Feb. 21, 1965. The men were charged with opening fire inside a crowded ballroom in Manhattan and killing Malcolm X as he was speaking.
The Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. office in partnership with the Innocence Project announced on Wednesday that Aziz and Islam would likely be exonerated on Thursday in the New York State Supreme Court, according to The Washington Post.
The two men spent a combined 42 years in prison and were eventually released on parole. Islam died in 2009.
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According to The New York Times, Deborah Francois, a lawyer for both men, said, “This wasn’t a mere oversight. This was a product of extreme and gross official misconduct.”
The case against Aziz and Islam was questioned from the outset, raising doubts about what truly happened that fatal night. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. launched a review of the case last year, stemming from a Netflix documentary “Who Killed Malcolm X?” that raised questions about Aziz’s guilt.
A 22-month long investigation was conducted jointly by the Manhattan district attorney’s office and lawyers for Aziz and Islam, which found that the FBI and the New York Police Department had withheld key evidence that would have likely led to both men’s acquittal, according to The New York Times.
Both Aziz and Islam were members of the Nation of Islam, a Black nationalist organization that Malcolm X served as spokesperson of until 1964.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated on Nov. 17 to reflect that Malcom X publicly announced his break from the Nation of Islam in 1964.
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