Source: Spencer Platt / Getty
Malcolm X was gunned down by three shooters at the Audubon Ballroom at West 165th Street and Broadway on February 21, 1965. In 1966 Muhammad Aziz along with Khalil Islam and Mujahid Halim was convicted of the murder of Malcolm X. Muhammad Aziz spent 20 years in jail and was released in 1985, while Khalil Islam was released in 1987. The third man Mujahid Halim was also convicted and sentenced to life in prison, had testified at a trial that he shot Malcolm X, and said, of Aziz and Islam, “neither of them had any involvement with the murder of Malcolm X,”. The year is now 2021 Khalil Islam has since passed away in 2009, then in 2020 Netflix dropped a masterpiece of a docu-series ‘Who Killed Malcolm X?‘ that brought about a ‘wokeness’ to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s office who ultimately exonerated the now 83 year old Muhammad Aziz.
But you must know that with exoneration comes years of reparations.
According to the $20 million, lawsuit Muhammad Aziz filed against New York State:
“As a result of his wrongful conviction and imprisonment, Mr. Aziz spent 20 years in prison for a crime he did not commit and more than 55 years living with the hardship and indignity attendant to being unjustly branded as a convicted murderer of one of the most important civil rights leaders in history,”
The Innocence Project and lawyers for the men said new evidence showed that FBI documents and other evidence that had been available at the time of their trial was “withheld from both defense and prosecution.”
Source: Radio One Digital
