New York City, State To Pay $36 Million To Men Exonerated In Malcolm X Murder
New York City and New York state agreed to pay $36 million to settle lawsuits filed on behalf of two men wrongly convicted of assassinating Malcolm X in 1965, an attorney representing the pair said Sunday.
Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam, who were convicted in 1966, each spent more than 20 years in prison before they were paroled in the 1980s. The pair were convicted of murdering Malcolm X despite a hasty trial and doubts about their involvement in the assassination. Legal scholars had long argued that the case against them was flawed and a nearly two-year-long investigation completed last year found evidence pointing to their innocence had been withheld during their trial.
A third man, Mujahid Abdul Halim, was also found guilty in 1966 and confessed to the murder at his trial. He said at the time and has maintained that Aziz and Islam were innocent.
A judge in Manhattan dismissed their convictions last year, saying the trial involved “serious miscarriages of justice.” Then-Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. also issued an apology, saying law enforcement at the time of the trial engaged in “serious, unacceptable violations of the law and the public trust.”
Muhammad Aziz stands outside the courthouse with members of his family after his conviction in the killing of Malcolm X was vacated on Nov. 18, 2021, in New York. (Photo: via Associated Press)
Aziz is now 84. Islam died in 2009 and the suit was brought by his estate.
“Muhammad Aziz, Khalil Islam, and their families suffered because of these unjust convictions for more than 50 years,” their attorney, David Shanies, said in a statement to The Associated Press. “The City recognized the grave injustices done here, and I commend the sincerity and speed with which the Comptroller’s Office and the Corporation Counsel moved to resolve the lawsuits.”
Shanies added to The New York Times that it was “tragic” Islam died “never knowing that his name would be cleared.”
New York City will pay $26 million and the state of New York will pay an additional $10 million. The $36 million in settlement money will be divided equally between Aziz and Islam’s estate.
The New York City Law Department said it agreed with the outcome of the investigation and the pair’s exoneration, adding it hoped the settlement would help bring “some measure of justice to individuals who spent decades in prison and bore the stigma of being falsely accused of murdering an iconic figure.”
“Based on our review this office stands by the opinion of former Manhattan district attorney Vance who stated, based on his investigation, that ‘there is one ultimate conclusion: Mr. Aziz and Mr. Islam were wrongfully convicted of this crime,’” Nick Paolucci, a spokesman for the department, told The New York Times.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
