Muhammad A. Aziz informed New York City that he plans to sue it for $40 million. (File)
New York:
One of two men unjustly jailed for decades for the 1965 assassination of civil rights leader Malcolm X sued New York state for at least $20 million in damages on Tuesday.
Last month, Muhammad A. Aziz was pardoned by a US judge who admitted he was the victim of a violation of justice in the high-profile murder case.
Aziz, 83, said in a statement announcing the lawsuit: “Those responsible for taking away my freedom and taking my husband, father and grandfather’s family are held accountable.
He also informed New York City that he plans to sue it for $40 million unless a damages settlement is made within 90 days.
His lawyers said they would file similar lawsuits on behalf of the family of Khalil Islam, the second man to be falsely convicted. He passed away in 2009.
For more than half a century, official records show that three members of the black nationalist group the Nation of Islam, which Malcolm X recently renounced, shot the iconic leader as he arrived to speak on the podium of a ballroom in Harlem.
Aziz, a Muslim, and a third man, Mujahid Abdul Halim, was convicted in 1966 – but historians have long doubted that thesis.
Halim – now 80 years old and released from prison in 2010 – confessed to the murder but maintained the innocence of the other two.
In 2020, the case was reopened following the release of the Netflix documentary “Who Killed Malcolm X?”
A 22-month investigation by the Manhattan district attorney’s office and their attorneys revealed that prosecutors, the FBI and the New York Police Department hid evidence that could lead to their arrest. acquitted.
Aziz was sentenced to life in prison in 1966 but was released in 1985. Also sentenced to life in prison, Islam was released in 1987.
Judge Ellen Biben of New York announced the amnesty for Aziz and Islam on November 18 to a resounding applause from the courtroom.
The investigation failed to identify the assassins or offer an alternative explanation for the murder.
Born Malcolm Little in 1925, Malcolm X became one of the most influential civil rights leaders of the 20th century along with Martin Luther King Jr.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
