被判与1965年暗杀马尔科姆·Ⅹ有关的一名男子周四出现在法庭上一名法官为他洗脱了罪名。
根据万斯办公室向辩方提交的一份联合动议，曼哈顿地区检察官赛·万斯(Cy Vance)提议撤销对83岁的穆罕默德·阿齐兹(Muhammad Aziz)和2009年去世的哈利勒·伊斯兰(Khalil Islam)的定罪，理由是“新发现的证据和未能披露开脱罪责的证据”。
万斯说:“我们今天将撤销定罪，驳回起诉。“我为严重的、不可接受的违反法律和公众信任的行为道歉。”
期待已久的声明赢得了法庭上人们热烈的掌声。
阿齐兹以前被称为诺曼·巴特勒，在1985年获得假释之前，他在监狱里呆了22年。供认不讳的刺客托马斯·哈根(Thomas Hagan)在狱中服刑45年，他长期以来一直表示，两人都没有参与杀害这位暴躁的民权领袖。
万斯说，当时的联邦调查局局长j·埃德加·胡佛命令某些证人不要透露他们是联邦调查局的线人。
万斯说:“阿齐兹先生和伊斯拉姆先生被错误地判定犯有这一罪行。
阿齐兹坐在辩护席上，戴着白色口罩，旁边是他的律师大卫·沙尼斯，他称阿齐兹和伊斯兰为“无辜的年轻黑人”，并指责纽约警察局和联邦调查局掩盖证据。
Seth Wenig/美联社
穆罕默德·阿齐兹(左)和他的家人站在法庭外..
“大多数杀害马尔科姆·Ⅹ的人从来没有面对过正义，”沙尼说。
阿齐兹在法庭上宣读了一份声明，他说:“导致我被定罪和非法监禁的事件本不该发生。这些事件是一个腐败过程的结果，甚至在2021年也是如此。
“虽然我不需要法院、检察官或一张纸来告诉我我是无辜的，但我很高兴我的家人、我的朋友以及这些年来一直为我工作和支持我的律师们终于看到了我们都知道并得到官方承认的真相，”他继续说道。
无罪判决源于地区检察官办公室和无罪项目近两年的调查，调查发现联邦调查局的文件显示，对凶手的描述与阿齐兹或伊斯兰教不符，承认唯一指认阿齐兹和伊斯兰教的证人是联邦调查局的线人，还有一份报告称，消息来源审查了伊斯兰教的照片，未能将他放在1965年2月21日马尔科姆·Ⅹ被暗杀的奥杜邦舞厅。
“简而言之，不知道本案中使用的身份识别程序是否正确进行，”腾退动议称。
民主党众议员鲍比·拉什。作为20世纪60年代黑豹党伊利诺伊州分会的创始人，他的朋友弗雷德·汉普顿(Fred Hampton)于1969年被芝加哥警方杀害，这是出了名的，他在阿齐兹被无罪释放后批评了联邦调查局和胡佛。
拉什在一份声明中说:“这一应受谴责的揭露是又一个清晰明了的例子，说明了为什么必须立即从联邦调查局总部剥离j .埃德加·胡佛的名字，以及为什么现在是联邦调查局反情报项目COINTELPRO的文件最终曝光的时候了。
地区检察官办公室没有宣布阿齐兹和伊斯兰实际上是无辜的，而是援引了证人、同谋者和警察的死亡、失踪的身份证明以及实物和其他证据。
District attorney apologizes, calls out J. Edgar Hoover as men exonerated in murder of Malcolm X
One of the men convicted in connection with the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X appeared in court Thursday wherea judge cleared his name.
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance moved to throw out the convictions of Muhammad Aziz, 83, and Khalil Islam, who died in 2009, based on "newly discovered evidence and the failure to disclose exculpatory evidence," according to a joint motion Vance's office filed with the defense.
"We are moving today to vacate the convictions and dismiss the indictments," Vance said. "I apologize for what were serious, unacceptable violations of law and the public trust."
The long-awaited announcement drew rousing applause from those in the courtroom.
Aziz, previously known as Norman Butler, spent 22 years in prison before he was paroled in 1985. Confessed assassin Thomas Hagan, who served 45 years in prison, had long said neither man participated in killing the fiery civil rights leader.
Vance said that certain witnesses, acting under orders from then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, were ordered not to reveal they were FBI informants.
"Mr. Aziz and Mr. Islam were wrongly convicted of this crime," Vance said.
Aziz sat at the defense table wearing a white mask next to his attorney, David Shanies, who called Aziz and Islam "innocent young Black men" and accused the New York Police Department and the FBI of covering up evidence.
"Most of the men who murdered Malcolm X never faced justice," Shanies said.
Aziz read from a statement in court, saying, "The events that led to my conviction and wrongful imprisonment should never have happened. Those events were the result of a process that was corrupt to its core -- one that is all too familiar -- even in 2021."
"While I do not need a court, prosecutors, or a piece of paper to tell me I am innocent, I am glad that my family, my friends, and the attorneys who have worked and supported me all these years are finally seeing the truth we have all known officially recognized," he continued.
The exoneration resulted from a nearly two-year investigation by the district attorney's office and the Innocence Project that uncovered FBI documents that revealed a description of the killers that did not match Aziz or Islam, an admission that the only witnesses who fingered Aziz and Islam were FBI informants and a report that said sources reviewed photos of Islam and failed to place him in the Audubon Ballroom where Malcolm X was assassinated on Feb. 21, 1965.
"In short, it is unknown whether the identification procedures used in this case were properly conducted," the motion to vacate said.
Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., founder of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party in the 1960s and whose friend, Fred Hampton, was famously killed by Chicago police in 1969, criticized the FBI and Hoover following the exoneration of Aziz.
"This reprehensible revelation is yet another crystal clear example of why J. Edgar Hoover’s name must be immediately stripped from the FBI headquarters and why it is time for the files from the FBI’s counterintelligence program, COINTELPRO, to finally see the light of day," Rush said in a statement.
The district attorney's office stopped short of proclaiming the actual innocence of Aziz and Islam, citing the deaths of witnesses, co-conspirators and police officers, the missing identification and physical and other evidence.
