Malcolm X’s daughter, Ilyasah Shabazz, is suing the New York City Police Department and other agencies for Malcolm X’s murder.
As BBC reports, Ilyasah Shabazz said that the United States officials fraudulently concealed evidence that they “conspired to and executed their plan to assassinate” her father.
She publicized the planned legal action at the location where Malcolm X also known as el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz, was fatally shot in New York exactly 58 years ago.
Ilyasah was two years old when she saw her father gunned down. Three armed men shot him 21 times as he was preparing to speak at a Harlem auditorium.
“For years, our family has fought for the truth to come to light concerning his murder,” she said on Tuesday, February 21, at the venue, which has since been converted into a memorial area, as she filed notices of claims, a precursor to a lawsuit.
At the news conference, Benjamin Crump the lawyer who is representing the family alleged that powerful figures in the American government had conspired to kill Malcolm X.
Crump said Malcolm X’s family intends to file a wrongful death lawsuit seeking damages in the range of $100 million (KSh 12.6 billion).
“It is not just about the triggermen; it is about those who conspired with the triggermen to do this dastardly deed,” he said.
The NYPD told the BBC it would not comment on pending litigation. The FBI and CIA did not immediately respond to a request for the comment.
Malcolm X was a lead spokesman for the Nation of Islam which advocated separatism for black Americans before his acrimonious split from the organization. He was 39 when he was killed.
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In 2021, two other men convicted of killing him had their convictions thrown out after a New York state judge declared there had been a miscarriage of justice.
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The two men were later fully exonerated after New York’s attorney general found prosecutors had withheld evidence that would have probably cleared them of the murder.
Family of the wrongly convicted men sued and won $26m from New York City and $10m from New York state.