Two men are set to have their convictions thrown out after maintaining their innocence for decades in the 1965 murder of civil rights icon Malcolm X. The duo are set to be acquitted on Thursday after an investigation found that the government withheld crucial evidence about one of the most notorious murders of the civil rights era.

Muhammad Aziz, now 83, and the late Khalil Islam were convicted in 1966 after a trial in which authorities withheld evidence in favor of the defense, said their lawyers, the Innocence Project and civil rights attorney David Shaney.

The office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. is expected to join men’s attorneys on Thursday in asking a judge to exonerate the convicts.

“The events that brought us here should never have occurred; those events were and are the result of a process that was corrupt to its core – one that is all too familiar – even in 2021,” Aziz said in a statement provided through his lawyers.

He added: “While I do not need this court, these prosecutors, or a piece of paper to tell me I am innocent, I am glad that my family, my friends, and the attorneys who have worked and supported me all these years are finally seeing the truth we have all known, officially recognized.”

Malcolm X was killed in Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom on Feb. 21, 1965, by gunmen who opened fire during a speaking engagement. He was 39.

Aziz, Islam, and a third person, Mujahid Abdul Halim – also known as Talmaj Heyer and Thomas Hagen – were convicted of murder and sentenced to prison in March 1966.

Hagan said he was one of three gunmen who shot Malcolm X, but he testified that neither Aziz nor Islam was involved. Both always said that they were innocent and made excuses. No physical evidence linked him to the crime.

Malcolm X rose to national prominence as the voice of the Nation of Islam, speaking about the importance of black people asserting their civil rights “by any means necessary” in his highly visible role with the Black Muslim Organization.

But he later broke away from the group and, after a trip to Mecca, began to speak about the possibility of racial unity. This made him angry with some in the nation of Islam, who saw him as a traitor.

Aziz was released in 1985. Islam was released two years later and died in 2009. Both continued to press for clearing their names.

Shanies, who represents Aziz and Islam’s estate, said the moment “marks a significant and long-overdue milestone for Muhammad Aziz and the memory of Khalil Islam.”

“They, their families, and their communities have endured decades of pain and suffering,” Shanies said in a statement. “The tragic and unjust events of the past can never be erased but exonerating these men is a righteous and well-deserved affirmation of their true character.”