Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 13, 1994                   TAG: 9403130028
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Medium

MALCOLM X'S WIDOW THINKS FARRAKHAN HAD ROLE IN KILLING

Betty Shabazz previously has criticized Farrakhan, but never directly accused him of complicity in the 1965 assassination.

In a taped interview for broadcast today on WNBC-TV's "News Forum" in New York, Shabazz was asked if she thinks Farrakhan "had anything to do with the death of your husband."

"Of course, yes," Shabazz replied. "Nobody kept it a secret. It was a badge of honor. Everybody talked about it, yes."

Shabazz wasn't asked to elaborate. Telephone calls to her home Saturday went unanswered.

Mark Morrison of Nation of Islam headquarters in Chicago said officials there wouldn't be available to comment before Monday.

Malcolm X, who had been the voice of the Nation of Islam under its leader, Elijah Muhammad, was exiled from the group in 1963. He subsequently came under verbal attack from other members.

Farrakhan, who was recruited into the Nation by Malcolm X, wrote in the Dec. 4, 1964, issue of Muhammad Speaks, the organization's newspaper: "The die is set and Malcolm shall not escape. . . . Such a man is worthy of death." Farrakhan was chief minister of the Nation's Boston mosque at the time.

Malcolm X was shot to death while speaking in New York City on Feb. 21, 1965. Three black Muslims were convicted of murder. One, Thomas Hayer, remains in prison and has named four other men as being his co-conspirators.

The Nation of Islam split after Muhammad's death in 1975. Farrakhan became leader of the smaller faction, which kept the group's name and its focus on black supremacy and separatism.