All three men were convicted in 1966 – but historians have long doubted that thesis.
New York:
The Manhattan District Attorney is set on Thursday to ask for the forgiveness of two men found guilty in the 1965 assassination of civil rights leader Malcolm X, a notable development acknowledging the prosecution of a One of America’s most high-profile murders has resulted in the grave destruction of justice.
For more than half a century, official records show that three members of the black nationalist group the Nation of Islam – which influential Malcolm X recently renounced – shot the iconic civil rights leader when he came to speak at the podium. of a Harlem ballroom.
All three men were convicted in 1966 – but historians have long doubted that thesis.
And now, a 22-month investigation by the Manhattan district attorney’s office and attorneys for the two men has found that prosecutors, the FBI and the New York Police Department have kept evidence that could potentially lead to the acquittal of the two men.
One of the men, Mujahid Abdul Halim – now 80 years old and released from prison in 2010 – confessed to the murders but kept the innocence of the other two, Muhammad A. Aziz and Khalil Islam.
Aziz, 83, was sentenced to life in prison in 1966 but released in 1985. Also sentenced to life in prison, Islam was released in 1987 and died in 2009.
On Thursday, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance will ask a New York judge to drop the charges.
“These men didn’t get the justice they deserved,” Vance said in an interview with The New York Times.
“What we can do is admit the error, the severity of the error.”
– ‘Corruption to its core’ –
After Malcolm X was fatally shot on February 21, 1965, Halim was detained at the scene with a gunshot wound to the leg.
Aziz and Islam were arrested a few days later. Both denied involvement in the assassination and provided proof of their positions at the time of the shooting.
Aziz said in a statement Wednesday that “the events that brought us here should never have happened; those events were and are the result of a process that has been corrupted to its very core.” – a process that is all too familiar – even in 2021.”
“Although I don’t need the courts, prosecutors or a single piece of paper to say I’m innocent, I’m glad my family, friends and lawyers have worked and supported me through the years. finally seeing the truth. we all know it, it’s officially recognized,” he added.
Following the expected oaths, Vance will hold a press conference with civil rights attorney David Shanies and Barry Scheck, co-directors of the Innocence Project.
The Shanies and the Innocence Project, a nonprofit that has secured pardons for hundreds of wrongly convicted prisoners in the United States, has partnered with Vance’s office to re-investigate the case.
The review of the incident follows the release of the Netflix documentary “Who Killed Malcolm X?”
– Protracted question –
The wrongful convictions mean that the real perpetrators – those who are presumed dead – will never be held accountable for the murder of one of the US civil rights movement’s stalwarts, who The words and teachings that are still fundamental to Black rights and social justice struggles today.
According to The New York Times, the lengthy investigation failed to identify the assassins or offer an alternative explanation for the murder.
And some of the biggest questions surrounding the case still remain, which is how did American intelligence, which has been tracking Malcolm X for so long, not knowing the leader was under threat or doing anything about it?
A real correction of the case has become more and more unlikely over the years, as many of those involved have long since died.
Considered one of the most influential African-Americans of the 20th century alongside Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X was an outspoken defender of Black rights.
Malcolm Little was born in 1925, he committed petty crimes in his youth and became a devout Muslim while in prison.
Upon his release, he changed his surname to “X” as a symbol of the original name of his family lost to slavery.
He became known as the minister and spokesman of the Nation of Islam, advocating black pride and self-esteem. Nor does he shy away from using violence to protect himself.
Disillusioned with the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X broke away from the group in 1964 and founded the short-lived African American Solidarity to further promote black rights.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
