Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan filed a $4.4 billion libel lawsuit against the New York Post, which last week quoted Malcolm X's widow as accusing Farrakhan of complicity in her husband's murder.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Manhattan's state Supreme Court, said the Post printed Betty Shabazz's "false and defamatory statement" in a March 12 column by Jack Newfield headlined, "Widow Pins Malcolm X Murder on Farrakhan."The Post said the lawsuit was without merit.
Newfield's column quoted remarks Shabazz made on a WNBC-TV show broadcast Sunday. She was asked, "Do you think that Louis Farrakhan had anything to do with the death of your husband?" Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965.
Shabazz replied: "Yes. . . . Nobody kept it a secret. It was a badge of honor. Everybody talked about it. Yes."
She has not returned repeated phone calls placed by The Associated Press seeking elaboration.
Newfield's column, court papers said, "exposed Minister Farrakhan to physical harm and even death" by inciting people who believe the statements to kill Farrakhan.
Farrakhan's court papers also name as defendants Post Editor in Chief Rupert Murdoch, publisher Martin Singerman and Newfield.
Ava Muhammad, a lawyer for the Nation of Islam, said the published statements falsely attribute a crime to Farrakhan and injure his reputation and effectiveness as a minister.