New York City will pay $26 million to settle lawsuits on behalf of two men who were exonerated in the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X. Last year, a judge tossed out convictions against Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam after finding “serious miscarriages of justice.” An investigation by the Manhattan DA’s Office and the Innocence Project found that prosecutors, the FBI and the New York Police Department omitted key evidence around the murder. Khalil Islam died in 2009, but his family filed the suit on his behalf. Aziz spent two decades in prison before being released on parole. The state of New York will also pay a settlement of $10 million. Ilyasah Shabazz, one of Malcolm X’s daughters, spoke to Democracy Now! earlier this year.
Ilyasah Shabazz: “We want to know who killed our father, and we want to make sure that it is properly recorded in history.”