Why was Muhammad Aziz exonerated? Man wrongfully convicted over Malcolm X murder sues NYC for $40 million

Muhammad Aziz served 20 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of killing black civil rights activist Malcolm X in 1965. Aziz is now suing New York City and the investigators for $40 million.

On July 14, Muhammad Aziz's attorneys presented a 59-page complaint to the Eastern District of the United States District Court in New York. The lawsuit was filed only a few months after Aziz and the deceased Khalil Islam, who was also wrongfully accused of Malcolm X's murder, were exonerated in November 2021, more than 50 years after their respective murder convictions in 1966.

Malcolm X, the minister and leader of the Black Nationalist Movement, and Nation of Islam spokesperson until 1964, was shot on February 21, 1965. The 39-year old activist was assassinated in Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom by assailants who opened fire while he was giving a speech.

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Muhammad Aziz suing NYC for constitutional rights violations

Muhammad Aziz outside of a New York City courthouse (Image via Todd Hesler/NYT)

According to the complaint filed, 84-year-old Aziz is suing New York City for constitutional rights violations. This includes denial of his right to due process, malicious prosecution, and law enforcement misconduct that resulted in his erroneous conviction and subsequent incarceration.

Aziz’s suit also includes the names of some two dozen former police officers as defendants, alleging they unlawfully helped secure his wrongful conviction.

Muhammad Aziz's attorneys said in a statement,

"As a result of his wrongful conviction and imprisonment, Mr Aziz spent 20 years in prison for a crime he did not commit and more than 55 years living with the hardship and indignity attended to being unjustly branded as a convicted murderer of one of the most important civil rights leaders in history."

The complaint further mentions that Aziz, a father of six children and a veteran of the U.S. Navy, was just 26 years old when he was detained in connection with the murder of Malcolm X.

The complaint further states that the 20 years Aziz spent in prison,

"Should have been the prime of his life. The damage done to Mr Aziz and his family was immense and irreparable."

Muhammad Aziz was released in 1985 after completing a 20-year sentence. Islam served 22 years before being released, and he passed away in 2009.

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Muhammad Aziz was beaten by the police for the crime he didn't commit

According to the complaint, Muhammad Aziz had been beaten by police a month prior and was at his Bronx home at the time of the shooting. There were apparent signs of injuries on his legs.

Despite inconsistent statements from witnesses who were threatened by law enforcement and a lack of tangible proof, Aziz was nonetheless detained and accused of killing Malcolm X, the complaint states.

Attorneys stated that detectives allegedly "knowingly concealed" facts in the NYPD-led and FBI investigation in order to quickly condemn Aziz and Islam for the Malcolm X murder.

Years down the line, the two men's attorneys and the New York County District Attorney's office launched a two-year reinvestigation, which resulted in their exoneration in November.

Cyrus R. Vance, the former District Attorney of New York County, expressed regret and apologized "for what were serious and unacceptable violations of law and the public trust" and the "decades-long injustice."

Aziz declared via his attorneys in a statement prior to the November exoneration that,

"The events that brought us here should never have occured; those events were and are the result of a process that was corrupt to its core...one that is all too familiar...even in 2021."

Mujahid Abdul Halim, also known as Talmadge Hayer and Thomas Hagan, was one of the individuals who confessed to the murder and said at the 1966 trial that Aziz and Islam were innocent. Both falsely accused men, who were Nation of Islam members, have consistently maintained their innocence.

According to Aziz's attorneys, he lost the opportunity to develop a relationship with his children, who were between the ages of 1 and 10 at the time of his conviction, because of his imprisonment.

Furthermore, they said that one of his children was informed for 26 years that someone else was her father.

Given the considerable amount of time that passed between Mr. Aziz's release from jail in 1985 and his exoneration in 2021, his lawsuit claims that his losses go far beyond the years he spent behind bars.