Malcom X assassin to walk free after 4 decades
AFP
NEW YORK- The killer of African-American rights activist Malcolm X will be paroled next month after more than four decades in the prison system, an official said Friday.
Thomas Hagan, who confessed to the 1965 shooting of Malcolm X, has been partially free on work release for the last 22 years, although he was still required to spend two nights a week at a low-security Manhattan prison.
Malcolm X (centre)
The decision was taken at a parole hearing on March 3, Violette said. Such hearings are not widely publicized and the news only emerged this week.
Hagan, 69, was a member of the militant Nation of Islam movement when Malcolm X was shot in New York while giving a speech.
He told his trial a year later that he was responsible for the slaying.
Malcolm X was a controversial black rights leader and had been a top Nation of Islam figure.
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