Two men among the
three men convicted of killing Malcolm X, one of the most prominent leaders of
the civil rights movement, in 1965 will be exonerated on Thursday. The convicts
— Muhammad A Aziz and Khalil Islam — have consistently maintained their innocence
in the assassination. Cy Vance, district attorney of Manhattan, told The New
York Times, that the two accused may have their names cleared.

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Malcolm X, a
Muslim minister and one of the figureheads of the civil rights movement, was
shot dead during a speech in Audubon, Harlem on February 21, 1965. Following
Malcom X’s death, Muhammad A Aziz who was previously known as Norman X Butler, was
one of the three men convicted in Malcolm X’s murder.

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A Netflix documentary
on the death of Malcom X titled “Who killed Malcolm X” that was released last
year cast doubts on the conviction. Following the release, the Manhattan DA’s
office initiated a review of the case.

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On Wednesday, the
DA’s office and the Innocence Project, which is part of Muhammad Aziz’s legal
team, announced that the two men will be exonerated.

The murder of
Malcolm X has been a controversial subject among Black Muslims in the United
States for decades. Conspiracy theories abound that seem to suggest that law
enforcement agencies were involved with the hit on the civil rights leader.

Born in Nebraska on
May 19, 1925, Malcolm X was a key member of an association called Nation of
Islam. He was imprisoned from 1946 to 1952 when he underwent conversion and
came to associate elements of the African American movement that combined elements
of Islam with Black Nationalism.

He was one of the
key figures associated with laying the intellectual foundations of Black
consciousness and Black Power movements through the late 1960s and 70s.
Following inter-organisation tensions, Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam to
set out on his own. Tensions between Malcolm X and the Nation rose such that he
reportedly received death threats. He was eventually assassinated on February
21, 1965.