New York City will pay the two men exonerated in the 1965 assassination of civil rights leader Malcolm X $26 million, said an attorney representing the men. The state of New York will pay the men an additional $10 million.

The men — Muhammad Aziz, 84, and Khalil Islam, who died in 2009 — were imprisoned for a combined 42 years, despite sworn statements from the professed killer of Malcolm X denying their involvement in the murder. Aziz and Islam clung to their innocence for over 40 years.

Aziz and Islam were both released from prison in the 1980s, and claimed their innocence since the day of their arrests, leading them and their estates to file lawsuits against both New York City and the state for malicious prosecution.

"Justice delayed for far too long is justice denied. Mr. Aziz just turned 84 and Mr. Islam tragically died before seeing his name cleared," the pair's attorney David Shanies told ABC News in July.

The two men were exonerated by a Manhattan Judge in 2021 and the Manhattan district attorney's office credited the interest in reinvestigating the convictions to the release and subsequent interest of a Netflix documentary series exploring the murder of Malcolm X.

The series focused on the possibility of innocence for the two men, detailing how very little evidence had ever linked them to the crime, as well as a signed affidavit from Talmadge Hayer, the professed killer, affirming the identity of those involved.

In his first TV interview since his 2021 exoneration, Aziz told ABC News' "Soul of a Nation," that "If God is on your side, it doesn't matter who's against you. God's on my side."

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