NEW YORK — Malcolm X’s daughters announced plans to sue the FBI and CIA for wrongful death on the anniversary of their father’s assassination.
The lawsuit claims that the agencies along with the New York Police Department and others played a role in their father’s death and are seeking $100 million, The Associated Press reported.
Malcolm X’s two daughters — Ilyasah Shabazz and Qubilah Shabazz — along with attorney Ben Crump made their announcement at the former Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan the same location where Malcolm X was shot 21 times, killing him at the age of 39, CBS News reported.
On Feb. 21, 1965, the civil rights leader was in Washington Heights to speak at a gathering of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, which he started in 1964, according to the AP.
Crump said the family is filing the lawsuit against the agencies, claiming that the government “had factual evidence and exculpatory evidence that they fraudulently concealed from the men who were wrongfully convicted for the assassination of Malcolm X,” according to CBS News.
“For years, our family has fought for the truth to come to light concerning his murder,” his daughter, Ilyasah Shabazz said, Reuters reported.
She said that agencies had “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,” according to the AP.
Three men who were members of the Nation of Islam were convicted for his death — Mujahid Abdul Halim, Muhammad A. Aziz and Khalil Islam, History.com reported. Halim confessed to shooting the civil rights leader during his 1966 trial, testifying that Islam and Aziz were innocent.
Islam and Aziz were exonerated in 2021 due to evidence against them being shaky as well as investigators holding back information, the AP reported.
Islam died in 2009 before he was cleared; Aziz was 83 when the ruling came down, History.com said.
The AP reached out for comment to the CIA, FBI, Department of Justice, and New York City’s legal department. Both the Department of Justice and the New York Police Department declined to comment.
