man Who was unjust? Convicted of the 1965 assassination of Malcolm
Mohamed Aziz, one of three men convicted in 1966 of first-degree murder in the killing of Malcolm Federal investigations caused it, according to the British newspaper “Daily Mail”. The suit.
Aziz spent more than 20 years in prison and was released in 1985. He and Khalil Islam, who was also convicted of the murder, were exonerated in 2021 – more than half a century after their wrongful conviction. Islam died in 2009.
David B. said: “This is the latest chapter in a legal battle that has been ongoing for nearly 60 years, and holding the federal government accountable for its misconduct would be a fitting end to this saga,” Shanice, Aziz’s attorney, said in a statement. CNN.
CNN has reached out to the FBI and the Department of Justice for comment.
Malcolm
It was not long before shots were fired and the icon died.
In 2021, New York County Supreme Court Administrative Judge Ellen Pepin granted the request To dismiss the convictions Aziz and Islam.
A 22-month investigation was led by the office of then-Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and involved the Innocence Project and the men’s attorneys. I found that proof of their innocenceincluding FBI documents, were withheld during the trial, according to court documents.
Aziz, Islam and a third man – Mujahid Halim – were sentenced to life imprisonment after their conviction. Halim admitted that he shot Malcolm X But he said that Aziz and Islam were not involved in the killing.
Aziz spent more than 20 years in maximum security prisons
Aziz, a US Navy veteran, was 26 years old and a father of six at the time of his arrest, according to court documents.
The lawsuit alleges that several FBI officials, including former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, engaged in acts of corruption and misconduct by presenting false evidence in the case “to shift blame away from individuals who some FBI employees did not want to see prosecuted for their crimes.” “
The lawsuit says FBI employees concealed information that would have exonerated Aziz “for the purposes of, among other things, protecting and concealing the scope, nature, and activities of the domestic Counterintelligence Program, also known as COINTELPRO.”
It was COINTELPRO, or Counter Intelligence Program A secret surveillance program run by the FBI That monitored the Black Panthers, as well as civil rights and anti-war activists, among others. COINTELPRO disbanded in 1971. Hoover died in 1972.
As a result of the FBI’s actions, Aziz, now 85, has spent more than 85 years 20 years In a high-security prison for a crime he did not commit, according to the lawsuit.
Aziz was released from prison in 1985; Islam was released in 1987, but was exonerated posthumously.
in October 2022New York agreed to pay $26 million to settle lawsuits filed on behalf of Aziz and Islam.
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