In his lawsuit, 84-year-old Aziz claimed that the New York police had covered up the evidence to prove his innocence and sought compensation from the city where the police were affiliated.
Aziz, a former Marine, was 26 when he went to prison in 1965 and was the father of six children.
Malcom X was murdered by three gunmen in front of his family in 1965 as he was preparing to address a crowd in a New York ballroom.
In connection with the assassination, Mohammed Aziz, Halil Islam and Thomas Hogan, along with two others, were sentenced to life imprisonment.
This decision was taken despite the lack of physical evidence, the contradictory statements of the witnesses, and the fact that Hogan, who confessed to committing the murder, said that Mohammed Aziz and Halil Islam had nothing to do with the assassination.
Aziz was released on parole in 1985. Halil Islam was released in 1987 and Thomas Hogan in 2010. Halil Islam died in 2009.
Netflix’s 2020 “Who Killed Malcom X?” After the documentary, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office apologized, stating that “newly found evidence” points to Aziz and Halil’s innocence. Aziz and Halil’s sentences were cancelled.
After being acquitted, Aziz sued the state of New York last year. The lawsuit resulted in a $5 million settlement, according to the New York Times.
Aziz and Khalil were members of the political and religious organization, the Nation of Islam, which Malcom X broke up with in 1964. Malcom X was 39 years old when he was killed.
Malcom X’s daughters had requested a new investigation based on a letter written by a police officer on his deathbed at the time of the assassination.
In this letter, the former police officer accused the FBI and New York police of covering up some of the findings of the assassination.