Thirty-six million dollars: The amount split equally by the city and state of New York in 2021 for two African-Americans who were freed after more than twenty years in prison for the 1965 assassination of Malcolm. X, their lawyer revealed on Sunday, October 30. Confirms information from The New York Times.
“The tragedy of Malcolm X’s murder was felt around the world and it led to the conviction and imprisonment of two young, innocent black men in the United States”Their lawyer, David Shanis, responded in an email to Agence France-Presse (AFP). “This injustice has now been recognized and a modest step has been taken to rectify it”They included the representative of 84-year-old Muhammad Aziz and the family of Khalil Islam, who died in 2009.
The attorney confirmed that New York City will pay a total of $26 million, in addition to the $5 million awarded by New York State to each party. In New York Times, David Shanis notes that 36 million will be divided equally between the heirs of Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam.
42 years imprisonment for two
Last November, the New York State Supreme Court ruled that M.M. Aziz and Islam, call it“Failure of Justice” Their sentencing comes half a century before the assassination of civil rights icon Malcolm X in Harlem on February 21, 1965.
Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam, who served 42 years between them, have always maintained their innocence. A third defendant, Mujahid Abdul Halim – acquitted in 2010 – admitted to shooting Malcolm X at the time and freed his two co-defendants, but wasted no time until 2020 when the case was reopened by a New York judge.
A turnaround was made possible by a documentary airing on Netflix in February 2020 (“Who Killed Malcolm X? »), renewing doubts about the existence of MM. Aziz and Islam at the scene of the massacre. After months of retrial, then-Manhattan attorney Cyrus Vance joined two other male attorneys and an organization. “The Innocence Project”It fights miscarriages of justice, filing a motion to quash in the New York Supreme Court.
In November 2021, live on television and to applause, Attorney Vance delivered “Apologies” US Department of Justice officials “Decades of Injustice” And “Unacceptable Violations of Law and Public Trust”. In court, he held “I acknowledge the seriousness of this error” Without elaborating on rumors about the complicated role of the Justice Department, the Federal Police (FBI) and New York at the time.
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