Despite being convicted of murdering civil rights icon Malcolm X, Muhammad A. Aziz and Khalil Islam have always maintained their innocence. This Thursday, court records will reflect their previous statements. In an exclusive New York Times report, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance and lawyers representing the two men revealed that their convictions will be thrown out completely.
“The events that brought us here should never have occurred; those events were and are the result of a process that was corrupt to its core — one that is all too familiar — even in 2021,” Aziz said in a statement obtained by NBC News.
“While I do not need a court, prosecutors, or a piece of paper to tell me I am innocent, I am glad that my family, my friends, and the attorneys who have worked and supported me all these years are finally seeing the truth we have all known, officially recognized.”
Vance’s decision follows a 22-month look into how the original case may have been mishandled when Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965. Initially, Mujahid Abdul Halim, Aziz and Islam were arrested in 1965 and 1966. However, NBC News reports that Netflix‘s 2020 documentary, Who Killed Malcolm X?, raised enough questions and led Vance to reopen the case.
“I am an 83-year-old man who was victimized by the criminal justice system, and I do not know how many more years I have to be creative,” Aziz said, according to NBC News.
“However, I hope the same system that was responsible for this travesty of justice also take responsibility for the immeasurable harm it caused me.”
