Why is Malcolm X’s family suing FBI, CIA for his death?

The daughter of Malcolm X said she is planning to sue US agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the New York Police Department over the death of her father. Ilyasah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X, made the announcement on Tuesday – the 58th anniversary of the civil rights leader’s assassination in 1965. Let’s take a closer look: What happened to Malcolm X? In March 1964, Malcolm X made an incredible announcement – he was breaking away from the Nation of Islam headed by Elijah Muhammad and forming his own group. The minister and civil rights activist had shot to fame as the leading spokesman of the Black Muslim group which counted among its disciples Muhammad Ali. His exhortations to Black people to claim their civil rights “by any means necessary” struck a chord with many. His autobiography, written with Alex Haley, remains a classic work of modern American literature. [caption id=“attachment_12193832” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali.[/caption] After a trip to Mecca, Malcolm X began speaking about the potential for racial unity. It earned him the ire of some in the Nation of Islam, who saw him as a traitor. In February 1965, a firebomb was tossed through a window of Malcolm X’s living room in Queens hours before Dawn. Malcolm X fled the burning home with his wife and four children. It was a harbinger of things to come. On 21 February, 1965, a crowd gathered at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem to hear Malcolm X speak. The minister and civil rights activist was fatally shot by three gunmen.

He died at the age of 39.

Mujahid Abdul Halim, then known as Talmadge Hayer or Thomas Hagan, 23, was arrested at the scene after being shot in the leg by a bodyguard. Muhammad Aziz then known as Norman 3X Butler, and Kahlil Islam, 30, then known as Thomas 15X Johnson, were arrested in the killing. Halim admitted to shooting Malcolm X but said neither Aziz nor Islam was involved. The two offered alibis, and no physical evidence linked them to the crime. The case hinged on eyewitnesses, although there were inconsistencies in their testimony. All three were convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Aziz and Islam, who maintained their innocence from the start in the 1965 killing at Upper Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom, were paroled in the 1980s. Meanwhile, questions from scholars and legal activists never stopped about who was ultimately responsible for Malcolm X’s death. In April 2011, Historian Manning Marable published “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention.” The biography concluded Aziz and Islam are innocent and brings new attention to claims that some of the actual killers were still at large. It wins a Pulitzer Prize. In February 2020, Netflix began streaming episodes of “Who Killed Malcolm X?” The six-part documentary examined the assassination and evidence that members of Halim’s Nation of Islam mosque in Newark, NJ, were behind the killing. The Manhattan district attorney’s office said it would consider reopening the investigation. In November 2021, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. announces that his office will ask a court to exonerate Islam and Aziz. Lawyers for the men said a nearly two-year-long investigation found that authorities withheld evidence favourable to the defence during the trial. In 2022, the city of New York agreed to pay $26 million for the wrongful convictions which led to both men spending decades behind bars. The state of New York agreed to pay an additional $10 million. What has Shabazz claimed? Ilyasah Shabazz, the co-administrator of her father’s estate, filed notices of claim, which is the first step in the process, saying that the agencies “conspired with each other and with other individuals and acted, and failed to act, in such a way as to bring about the wrongful death of Malcolm X.”

Shabazz, 60, was just two years old at the time of her father’s death.

Shabazz and her sister Qubilah were joined by attorney Ben Crump at a news conference at the site of the former Audubon Ballroom in upper Manhattan, where Malcolm X was fatally shot. “For years our family has fought for the truth to come to light,” she said at the news conference. “We want justice served for our father.” Crump noted the anniversary date and said that ever since then, “there has been speculation as to who was involved in the assassination of Malcolm X.” “Things that many people have speculated over the decades but were not substantiated … we believe that now it can be substantiated based on the recent exonerations of those who were wrongfully convicted,” Crump said, as per Al Jazeera. “It’s not just about the trigger men. It’s also about those who conspired with the trigger men to do this dastardly deed," Crump said, as per Axios. “We intend to have vigorous litigation of this matter, to have discovery, to be able to take depositions of the individuals who are still alive, 58 years later, to make sure that some measure of justice can be given to Malcolm X’s daughters,” Crump was quoted as saying by CBS. He added, “The truth of what happened and who was involved has always been critical.” He cited the 2021 exonerations and said that government agencies including the Manhattan district attorney, the NYPD and the FBI “had factual evidence, exculpatory evidence that they fraudulently concealed from the men who were wrongfully convicted for the assassination of Malcolm X.” Asked if he believes government agencies conspired to assassinate Malcolm, Crump said, “That is what we are alleging, yes. They infiltrated many civil rights organizations.” Emails seeking comment were sent to the CIA, FBI, Department of Justice and New York City’s legal department. The DOJ and NYPD declined to comment. This comes two years after members of Malcolm X’s family made public what they described as a letter written by a deceased police officer stating that the New York Police Department and FBI were behind the 1965 killing of the famed Black activist and civil rights advocate. The letter released was attributed to a former undercover NYPD officer named Raymond Wood. His cousin Reggie Wood joined some of Malcolm X’s daughters at the news conference at the site where the Audubon Ballroom once stood to make the letter public. Raymond Wood’s letter stated that he had been pressured by his NYPD supervisors to lure two members of Malcolm X’s security detail into committing crimes that resulted in their arrest just days before the fatal shooting. Those arrests kept the two men from managing door security at the ballroom and was part of conspiracy between the NYPD and FBI to have Malcolm killed, according to the letter. “Under the direction of my handlers, I was told to encourage leaders and members of the civil rights groups to commit felonious acts,” Wood’s letter stated. Shabazz at the time said she had always lived with uncertainty around the circumstances of her father’s death. “Any evidence that provides greater insight into the truth behind that terrible tragedy should be thoroughly investigated,” she told the news conference. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.