2 men to be cleared in 1965 killing of US civil rights leader Malcolm X

Aziz, Islam and a third man, Mujahid Abdul Halim - known at the time of the killing as Talmadge Hayer and later as Thomas Hagan - were convicted of murder in March 1966 and sentenced to life in prison

Two men convicted in the assassination of Malcolm X are set to be cleared after more than half a century, with prosecutors now saying authorities withheld evidence in the civil rights leader's killing, according to a news report Wednesday.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that Muhammad Aziz and the late Khalil Islam, who spent decades in prison for the crime, were being exonerated after a nearly two-year investigation by their lawyers and the Manhattan district attorney's office. A court date is expected Thursday.

“These men did not get the justice that they deserved," District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. told