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On November 18, a New York judge overturned the convictions of Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam, 55 years after the two men were tried in February 1965 for the murder of Malcolm X. A two-year investigation by the Manhattan prosecutor revealed that both the New York Police Department and the FBI did not disclose any exceptional information about the men, which would likely lead to acquittal.
Judge Ellen Biben, who presided over the hearing, spoke of “serious misconduct in justice,” and District Attorney Cyrus Vance apologized for “serious unacceptable violations of the law and public trust by the FBI and NYPD.” that the defendants did not receive a fair trial and that their sentences should be left empty.
The male exception was not surprising. Historians, journalists, and law professors have known for decades that both men were innocent, and that men had long held their own innocence. It was surprising that the NYPD and the FBI were silent about their exceptional information, apparently pleased that two innocent men had been convicted of offenses and imprisoned for decades for a crime they had not committed. Blacks and other marginalized communities have also learned over the decades not to trust the FBI, seeing the well-documented history of the agency as their goal and encouragement against them.
However, this astonishing perversion of justice raises serious questions: Did the real killers work with the FBI? And why did the FBI keep the information? What does it say that the only witnesses who put Aziz and Islam at the scene of the crime were FBI informants? We don’t know the answers because the NYPD and the FBI still lack transparency.
Hidden evidence was secretly collected as part of the famous FBI counterintelligence program known as COINTELPRO from the 1950s to the 1970s. He wanted to “neutralize” the black power leader through illegal tactics such as surveillance, infiltration, and disruption. For those who are more familiar with these abuses and this time, the questionable role of the FBI in this case was not surprising.
U.S. Representative Bobby Rush, a former Chicago Black Panther leader, immediately pointed the finger at the FBI for misjudgments. In a statement on November 18, he said: “I am shocked that both men have been jailed for decades for their active cooperation and betrayal by J Edgar Hoover. Malcolm X was a shining example of black American manhood and humanity. “Being at the center of his murder is an American tragedy and he flies in the face of Malcolm’s high ethical standards. There are still questions to be answered about Malcolm’s murder. Who knew what, and when did they know?”
In fact, if the FBI had a hand in the murder of Malcolm X, it would not be their first murder. The FBI has paid heavy damages on December 4, 1969 for participating in the murders of COINTELPRO activists Fred Hampton and Mark Clark of the Black Panther Party. And the FBI has admitted that Black Panther leader Geronimo Pratt was convicted of murder in 1972 and almost charged. The 30-year prison sentence, which was kept secret from COINTELPRO’s custody, was 400 miles (640 km) away at the time of the murder.
The “discovery” of the material in Malcolm X’s murder suggests that the FBI should immediately conduct an independent review of all COINTELPRO files to determine what other cases could be harmed and which innocent defendants could be released.
The lack of transparency in the assassination of Malcolm X becomes even more troubling when we consider the FBI’s conduct in the war on terror. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the FBI took responsibility for preventing the next terrorist attack by a large US terrorist network.
The FBI used the vast powers of the national security apparatus to guard Muslims and other marginalized communities, and soon found that there was almost no terrorist network in the United States. All the surveillance that lasted about two decades did not find a single terrorist plot.
However, instead of declaring that terrorism was not from the American-Muslim community, the FBI began fabricating terrorists out of innocent Muslims to prove the false premise of a close threat. Hundreds of Muslims were tried as a precaution for engaging in constitutional-sponsored activities such as speech or charity. Others were caught stealing money, or suffering from mental illness and being manipulated into participating in FBI terrorism schemes.
The FBI put innocent Muslims on the no-fly list to force them to be informants against their communities. It is now reported that the FBI’s secret informants have committed more than 22,000 crimes in the last decade, costing taxpayers an average of $ 42 million a year.
Former FBI agent and whistleblower Terry Albury said of the time he was investigating Muslims:
“There’s this mythology about the war on terror, and the FBI has empowered perpetrators to destroy the lives of completely innocent people, no matter what part of the world they come from, what religion they practice, or color. their skin. And I did that. I helped destroy people. For 17 years […] We have built the whole apparatus and convinced the world that there is a terrorist in every mosque and that every newly arrived Muslim immigrant is secretly anti-American, and because we have promoted this false idea, we must validate it. […] From day 1 it became very clear that the enemy was not just a small group of maladapted Muslims. Islam itself was the enemy […] I have serious and legitimate concerns about the tactics of the FBI in Muslim community tactics, groundbreaking investigations, and intimidation of potential informants. I am also deeply concerned about his institutional policies, which turn a blind eye to the daily denial of the most basic freedoms we all love. ”
In practice, the FBI’s policy had a disastrous effect on Muslim communities. When mosques and their members learned that they were under heavy electronic and physical surveillance, they forced Muslims to self-censor, avoid conversations with strangers or friends who might be FBI informants, or fight over what to share on social media.
Muslim communities that were accused of terrorism were often marginalized by their communities. False accusations by the FBI and lengthy incarceration destroyed his career. However, the FBI was able to accuse the Muslim community of its terrorist conspiracy and to show that the Muslims were disloyal and violent.
Malcolm X’s falsely denounced killer exception underscores how long the FBI has acted without transparency and effective oversight to disrupt justice and destroy lives. Forcing innocent men to serve their sentences in prison for decades, with exceptional evidence that would set them free, has never been acceptable.
Now is the time for the FBI to reassess COINTELPRO’s legacy of the war on terror. One step towards accountability would be to accept Rush’s bill, which would force the COINTELPRO Full Disclosure Act, the FBI and other government agencies to release all records related to the COINTELPRO operation.
Finally, it is time to establish independent custody, such as a conviction review unit in the Justice Department, to ensure that the FBI protects all U.S. residents and citizens equally, and that it does not have the goat-goats of those with the least ability to defend themselves.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial attitude of Al Jazeera.
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