Judge clears two men in Malcolm X murder
New probe found serious flaws with case, casting doubt on who killed the civil rights icon
More than half a century after the assassination of Malcolm X, two of his convicted killers were exonerated Thursday after decades of doubt about who was responsible for the civil rights icon’s death.
Manhattan judge Ellen Biben dismissed the convictions of Muhammad Aziz and the late Khalil Islam, after prosecutors and the men’s lawyers said a renewed investigation found new evidence that undermined the case against the men and determined that authorities withheld some of what they knew.
“The event that has brought us to court today should never have occurred,” Aziz said. “I am an 83-yearold man who was victimized by the criminal justice system.”
He and Islam, who maintained their innocence from the start in the 1965 killing, were paroled in the 1980s. Islam died in 2009.
“There can be no question that this is a case that cries out for fundamental justice,” Biben said.
Malcolm X gained national prominence as the voice of the Nation of Islam, exhorting Black people to claim their civil rights “by any means necessary.”
Near the end of Malcolm X’s life, he split with the Black Muslim organization and, after a trip to Mecca, started speaking about the potential for racial unity. It earned him the ire of some in the Nation of Islam, who saw him as a traitor.
He was shot to death while beginning a speech Feb. 21, 1965.
Aziz, Islam and Mujahid Abdul Halim were convicted of murder in March 1966. They were sentenced to life in prison.
Halim admitted to shooting Malcolm X but said neither Aziz nor Islam was involved. The two offered alibis, and no physical evidence linked them to the crime. The case hinged on eyewitnesses, though there were inconsistencies in their testimony.
Halim was paroled in 2010. Through a relative, he declined to comment Thursday.
Ameen Johnson, noting the absence of his father, Islam, who died in 2009, called the hearing “good but bittersweet,” adding, “I honestly didn’t think that I was going to live to see the day.”
Overall, the re-investigation found that the FBI and police failed to turn over evidence that cast significant doubt on Islam and Aziz as suspects, according to a court filing.
And the records showed that the late FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover ordered agents to tell witnesses not to reveal that they were informants when talking with police and prosecutors, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said.
“There is one ultimate conclusion: Mr. Aziz and Mr. Islam were wrongfully convicted of this crime,” and there is no prospect of retrying the 56-year-old case, Vance said. He apologized for law enforcement’s “serious, unacceptable violations of law and the public trust.”
I am an 83-year-old man who was victimized by the criminal justice system.
MUHAMMED AZIZ