Two men have been unjustly in prison for two decades – for the alleged murder of US civil rights icon Malcolm X. Only in 2021 did the authorities admit “serious miscarriages of justice”. Now the city and state of New York are paying millions in compensation. For one of the men this comes too late.
56 years after two innocent men were misconvicted in the assassination of US civil rights icon Malcolm X, those affected and their families will receive $36 million in compensation. A lawyer confirmed that the city of New York is paying a total of $26 million to 84-year-old Muhammad Aziz and the family of Khalil Islam, who died in 2009. New York State will pay an additional $10 million in compensation.
Aziz and Islam had been sentenced to life imprisonment for the 1966 murder of Malcolm X. They were released in the mid-1980s after around two decades in prison. It was not until November 2021 that the New York judiciary overturned the guilty verdicts against the two men and admitted “serious miscarriages of justice”.
Lawyer for Aziz and Islam’s family, David Shanies, has now described the compensation payments as a “modest step” to correct the miscarriage of justice. “The tragedy of the murder of Malcolm X was felt worldwide and compounded by the fact that it has resulted in the conviction and imprisonment of two innocent young black men in America.
Malcolm X was shot dead by three gunmen while performing in Harlem, New York, on February 21, 1965. Aziz and Islam, who were arrested days later, protested their innocence and were able to produce alibis. They were nonetheless sentenced to life imprisonment the following year. A third convict, Mujahid Abdul Halim, had admitted his guilt in the trial and called the other two men innocent.
Manhattan prosecutors began a nearly two-year new investigation into the case in 2020. She concluded that after the assassination of Malcolm X, prosecutors, the FBI and the New York City Police Department withheld evidence that would likely have led to an acquittal for Aziz and Islam at the time. According to the “New York Times”, numerous FBI documents pointed to other suspects.
Aziz was released from prison in 1985. Islam was released in 1987 and died in 2009. Halim was released in 2010. The three men had belonged to the Nation of Islam black Muslim movement, which Malcolm X had broken with.
Malcolm X was one of the most influential figures in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. However, he was not without controversy either, partly because he considered the use of force to be lawful under certain circumstances. Director Spike Lee created a cinematic monument to him in 1992 with the drama “Malcolm X” starring Denzel Washington.