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Malikah Shabazz, a daughter of Malcolm X, dies at 56

Shabazz was found unresponsive in her Brooklyn home Monday and later pronounced dead. She was 56.

WASHINGTON — Malikah Shabazz, one of six daughters of civil rights activist Malcolm X has died, police said Tuesday. She was 56. 

Shabazz was found Monday in her home in Brooklyn, a police spokesperson said. Her death appeared to be from natural causes, he said.

Shabazz and her twin sister, Malaak, were the youngest of Malcolm X's six daughters. Her and her sister were born after Malcolm X was assassinated in February 1965.

Bernice King, daughter of fellow activist Martin Luther King Jr., expressed her condolences on Twitter early Tuesday morning. 

"I'm deeply saddened by the death of Malikah Shabazz," King wrote. "My heart goes out to her family, the descendants of Dr. Betty Shabazz and Malcolm X. Dr. Shabazz was pregnant with Malikah and her twin sister, Malaak, when Brother Malcolm was assassinated. Be at peace, Malikah."

Dr. Betty Shabazz died in 1997.

The news of Malikah Shabazz's death comes less than a week after two men convicted of murdering her father were exonerated

Manhattan judge Ellen Biben dismissed the convictions of Muhammad Aziz and the late Khalil Islam, after prosecutors and the men’s lawyers said a renewed investigation found new evidence that undermined the case against the men and determined that authorities withheld some of what they knew.

“The event that has brought us to court today should never have occurred,” Aziz told the court. “I am an 83-year-old man who was victimized by the criminal justice system."

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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