Malcolm X: Two people convicted of Malcolm X's murderers are to be acquitted

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Malcom X (r.) And Martin Luther King Jr. (in 1964)

Photo: MARION S. TRIKOSKO / AFP

To this day, conspiracy theories surround his death: the well-known US civil rights activist Malcolm X was murdered on February 21, 1965.

At a lecture in New York, 21 shots were fired at him.

The perpetrators were allegedly members of the religious and political organization Nation of Islam, which X had decisively influenced until his break with the leader Elijah Muhammad.

Two of the three alleged perpetrators convicted are now to be rehabilitated - more than 50 years after the attack.

The "New York Times" reports.

These are Muhammad Aziz and the late Khalil Islam.

A 22-month investigation jointly conducted by the Manhattan Attorney's Office and the two men's attorneys found that prosecutors and two of the country's top law enforcement agencies - the FBI, the New York Police - had withheld important evidence.

According to the newspaper, they led to their acquittal.

"These men didn't get the justice they deserved," District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. told the newspaper.

Vance tweeted that his office, the Innocence Project, and a law firm would overturn the convictions, with more details on Thursday.

As the only one of the three shooters, Thomas Hagan had admitted the act at the time.

He was released in 2010 after around 45 years in prison in the US.

The other two suspected shooters had been at large since the 1980s.

They had always protested their innocence.

Ever since the verdicts, there have always been experts and historians who suspect a more far-reaching conspiracy behind the bloody act.

Earlier this year, Malcolm X's family presented a letter alleging that the FBI and New York Police were involved in the conspiracy surrounding the murder.

as / Reuters