Steph Deschamps / November 18, 2021
Two men convicted in 1966 for the murder a year earlier in New York of Malcolm X, a figure of the civil rights struggle, will be exonerated, the Manhattan District Attorney's office announced Wednesday.
These men did not get the justice they deserved, U.S. Attorney Cyrus Vance told The New York Times on Wednesday, while his office confirmed that a press conference would be held Thursday on overturning the wrongful convictions of two people for the murder of Malcolm X.
According to the New York Times, they are Muhammad A. Aziz, 83, released from prison in 1985, and Khalil Islam, released after serving his sentence in 1987 and died in 2009.
According to the New York daily, the 22-month investigation conducted jointly by the U.S. Attorney's Office and the men's attorneys reveals that prosecutors, the FBI and the NYPD withheld crucial evidence that, if known, would likely have led to the men's acquittal.
In February 2020, after the broadcast of a documentary on Netflix (Who Killed Malcolm X?), Cyrus Vance had asked his teams for a review of the case.
What we can do is recognize this mistake, the seriousness of this mistake, added Cyrus Vance.