Photo: AP/Shutterstock; Harvey Lippman/AP/Shutterstock
The state and city of New York have agreed to a settlement that will pay $36 million to two men exonerated in the murder of civil rights leader Malcolm X after one of themsued the city and former law enforcement for $40 million, according toNBC News.
According toABC News, 84-year-old Muhammad Aziz sued on the grounds of malicious prosecution, denial of due process rights and government misconduct.
Aziz — who was 26 years old and a father of six at the time of Malcolm X’s assassination — served 20 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of the crime, which took place at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City in 1965 when Malcolm X was moments away from giving a speech. Aziz’s co-defendant, Khalil Islam, also spent 22 years behind bars for the crime he did not commit.
Islam died in 2009 at the age of 79, but the pair were cleared of Malcolm X’s murder in November 2021, following a two-year long reinvestigation into the case. Aziz’s attorney David Shanies also represents Islam’s estate.
AP/Shutterstock
On Sunday, NBC News reported that Aziz’s and Islam’s attorney said the city of New York agreed to settle for $26 million to cover both plaintiffs' claims and the state agreed to pay $10 million.
“This settlement brings some measure of justice to individuals who spent decades in prison and bore the stigma of being falsely accused of murdering an iconic figure,” a spokesperson for the City of New York Law Department said on Sunday.
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Aziz and Islam were exonerated after prosecutorsreopened the investigationinto Malcolm X’s assassination following the release of a docuseries about the 1965 killing. A third man convicted in the slaying, Mujahid Abdul Halim, admitted to his role in the crime, and backed up Aziz and Islam’s assertions of innocence.
Muhammad Aziz.BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty
“The events that led to my conviction and wrongful imprisonment should never have happened. Those events were the result of a process that was corrupt to its core — one that is all too familiar — even in 2021,” Aziz’s statement read.
source: people.com
