Malcolm X: Two men convicted of assassinating civil rights leader to be exonerated after 55 years

Fresh doubts raised in Netflix documentary

Two men convicted of assassinating Malcolm X are reportedly expected to be exonerated - more than 50 years after the civil rights leader was shot and killed.

The exoneration of the two men, Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam, would represent an astonishing twist surrounding the killing of the one of the country’s most consequential Black leaders.

It would also mark a huge victory for those who had argued the two men had been framed, and that evidence was covered up.

The New York Times said the announcement about the two men, known at the time of the killing as Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson, would happen this week.

The two men spent decades in jail for the February 21, 1965, killing at Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom.

Yet, there have been doubts about their convictions since the outset.

The move followed a two-year investigation by officials from the office of Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr, and lawyers for the two men, both of whom had always insisted they were innocent.

The Innocence Project, a New York-based non-profit, which has helped clear many wrongly convicted prisoners over the years, also helped with the probe.

Mr Vance’s office pointed to a tweet in which he wrote: “NEWS: D.A. Vance, @innocence, and Shanies Law Office will move to vacate the wrongful convictions of two men for the murder of Malcolm X. More to come tomorrow.”

It said his office would be providing additional information about a formal announcement due to take place on Thursday.

In an interview, Mr Vance told the Times the investigation had found the FBI and the New York City Police Department had withheld key evidence that could have led to the men’s acquittal, had it been handed over 55 years ago.

He said the failures of the city’s law enforcement agencies could not be remedied, but “what we can do is acknowledge the error, the severity of the error”.

He said: “This points to the truth that law enforcement over history has often failed to live up to its responsibilities. These men did not get the justice that they deserved.”

Mr Aziz was paroled in 1985 and has persistently maintained his innocence. His lawyer, David Shanies, a civil rights attorney, also did not immediately respond to questions. Mr Aziz could not immediately be contacted.

The second man, Khalil Islam, died in 2009, having been paroled in 1987.

The reexamination of the case followed the broadcast last year of a documentary on Netflix, Who Killed Malcolm X? hosted by scholar Abdur-Rahman Muhammad, that made the case for the two men’s innocence.

The killing of Malcolm X, who grew to prominence as the head spokesman for the Nation of Islam, and called for racial separatism in the US, has been the focus of intense debate and argument for many years.

He famously urged Black people to claim civil rights “by any means necessary”.

Aziz, Islam and a third man, Mujahid Abdul Halim — known at the time of the killing as Talmadge Hayer and later as Thomas Hagan — were convicted of murder in March 1966 and sentenced to life in prison.

Hagan said he was one of three gunmen who shot Malcolm X, but he testified that neither Aziz nor Islam were involved. The two, then known as Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson, maintained throughout that they were innocent.

“Thomas 15 Johnson and Norman 3X Butler had nothing to do with this crime whatsoever,” Hagan said in a sworn statement in 1977.

Hagan was paroled in 2010. He identified two other men as gunmen, but no one else was ever arrested.

Additional reporting by Associated Press