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A man who was falsely convicted of murdering civil rights pioneer Malcolm X has filed a lawsuit demanding $40 million (£33 million) in damages.


Muhammad Aziz served 20 years in prison for the murder before being granted parole in 1985.


However, prosecutors tried to overturn his conviction in 2021, alleging "newly found evidence."


Mr. Aziz, 84, is suing the government for malicious prosecution, denial of due process, and official malfeasance.


Mr Aziz, a US Navy veteran, was a 26-year-old father of six when he was arrested for the murder of Malcolm X in New York's Audubon Ballroom in 1965.
Three assassins shot the civil rights leader as he prepared to address a raucous audience.


Mr. Aziz was detained alongside Khalil Islam, who died in 2009.
Mr Islam was imprisoned for 22 years before being released.


Both men were members of the Nation of Islam, the religious organisation from which X had separated in 1964.
Despite a lack of physical evidence, inconsistent claims from prosecution witnesses, and a third man's testimony that he had taken part in the attack and the other two were innocent, they were convicted.

Talmadge Hayer – the confessed assassin of Malcom X who was caught at the scene – testified at trial that Mr Aziz and Mr Islam were not involved in the killing.

In the late 1970s, Hayer signed an affidavit naming four other men who he said were involved in the murder.

A review of the convictions was launched in 2020, after prosecutors met representatives of the Innocence Project, a non-profit legal group campaigning for individuals it believes to have been wrongfully convicted.

“Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam were wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for decades – 42 years between them – as the result of outrageous government misconduct and violations of their constitutional rights,” said David Shanies, an attorney who represents the men’s estates.

“Justice delayed for far too long is justice denied. Mr Aziz just turned 84, and Mr Islam tragically died before seeing his name cleared.”

Last year, Malcolm X’s daughters requested that the murder investigation be reopened in light of new evidence.

They cited a deathbed letter from a man who was a policeman at the time of the 1965 killing, alleging that New York police and the FBI conspired in the murder.

BBC

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