A New York judge pardons two men for the murder of Malcolm X.

The pardon was announced on Wednesday.

These men did not get the justice they deserve. Manhattan Attorney General Cyrus Vance said that what we can do is admit the mistakes that were made The New York Times.

The now 83-year-old Mohamed Abdelaziz was released from prison in 1985. Khalil Islam was released in 1987 and died in 2009. Both have consistently maintained their innocence in the case.

A third man, Mujahid Abdel Halim, 80, confessed to the killing and said during the trial of the other two men that they were innocent. Halim was released in 2010.

The documentary film took over the case

A 22-month investigation by the attorney general’s office and attorneys representing the two men revealed that the FBI and New York Police had concealed evidence that would have led to Aziz and Islam’s acquittal at the 1966 trial.

It was the Netflix documentary Who Killed Malcolm X? Which led to the start of the new investigation of the Attorney General last year.

Nation of Islam

Aziz, Islam and Halim were all members of the radical Nation of Islam. Malcolm X himself was among the leaders until he broke with the organization in 1964 – one year before he was murdered.

Malcolm X was a Muslim priest and human rights activist. He was a strong voice for black rights, and encouraged the Islamic faith among African Americans.

In the 1950s, Malcolm was a fierce critic of Martin Luther King. He disagreed with King’s view of black liberation through nonviolence and integration with whites.

Conversion

But in the 1960s, Malcolm began to lose faith in the Nation of Islam. After the pilgrimage to Mecca, he left the organization, converted to Sunni Islam and founded the Organization of African-American Unity, an organization that fought for the rights of African Americans and cooperation with people of African descent in other countries.

He also expressed his desire to cooperate with the civil rights movement with which he had previously fallen out.

Since his death, Malcolm X has been a controversial figure at times. Many accused him of promoting racism and violence, but he was also honored for his work promoting black rights in the United States.