NEW YORK • Two men who spent decades in prison for the murder of Black activist and civil rights advocate Malcolm X in 1965 were exonerated Thursday after the Manhattan district attorney apologized for what he called “violations of the law and the public trust.”

Applause broke out in the courtroom as New York State Supreme Court Justice Ellen Biben vacated the convictions against Muhammad Aziz, 83, and Khalil Islam, who died in 2009.

Both were released from prison on parole in the 1980s.

Aziz told the court that his wrongful conviction had stemmed from “a process that was corrupt to its core, one that is all too familiar to Black people in 2021,” and said he hoped the system would take “responsibility for the immeasurable harm it caused me.”

Two of Islam’s sons who were also present in court, Ameen and Shahid Johnson, said outside the courthouse that they felt “bittersweet” about the exoneration because it could not replace everything their family had lost.

Muhammad Aziz, 83, one of the two men who spent decades in prison for murdering Black activist and civil rights advocate Malcolm X in 1965, looks down during his exoneration trial by a New York state judge at State Supreme Court in New York City, U.S., November 18, 2021. Curtis Means/Pool via REUTERS

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