SHEBERGHAN, AFG - DECEMBER 2: The American Taliban soldier John Walker-Lindh is treated at an Army hospital on December 2, 2001 in Sheberghan, Afghanistan. In a deal with prosecutors Lindh pleaded guilty on July 15, 2002 to two felonies: providing services to the Taliban and for carrying explosives during the commitment of a felony. Lindh is expected to serve 20 years in prison. (Photo by CNN via Getty Images)
On this day, Feb. 5 …
2002: A federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., indicts John Walker Lindh on 10 charges, alleging he was trained by Usama bin Laden’s terror network and then conspired with the Taliban to kill Americans. (Lindh later would plead guilty to lesser offenses and would be sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.)
Also on this day:
- 1917: The U.S. Congress passes, over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto, an act severely curtailing Asian immigration.
- 1937: President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposes increasing the number of U.S. Supreme Court justices; the proposal, which fails in Congress, drew accusations that Roosevelt was attempting to "pack" the nation’s highest court.
- 1958: Gamal Abdel Nasser is formally nominated to become the first president of the new United Arab Republic (a union of Egypt and Syria which would until 1961).
- 1971: Apollo 14 astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell step onto the surface of the moon in the first of two lunar excursions.
- 1983: Former Nazi Gestapo official Klaus Barbie, expelled from Bolivia, is brought to Lyon, France, to stand trial. (He would be convicted and sentenced to life in prison.)
- 1988: The Arizona House impeaches Republican Gov. Evan Mecham, setting the stage for his trial in the state Senate, where he would be convicted of obstructing justice and misusing state funds allegedly funneled to his Pontiac dealership.
- 1989: The Soviet Union announces that all but a small rear-guard contingent of its troops has left Afghanistan.
- 1993: President Bill Clinton signs the Family and Medical Leave Act, granting workers up to 12 weeks unpaid leave for family emergencies.
- 1999: Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson is sentenced in Rockville, Md., to a year in jail for assaulting two motorists following a traffic accident. (He would serve 3 1/2 months).
- 2001: Four disciples of Usama bin Laden go on trial in New York City in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa. (The four would be convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole.)
- 2006: Super Bowl XL: The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Seattle Seahawks 21-10 at Ford Field in Detroit.
- 2008: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a guru to the Beatles who introduced the West to transcendental meditation, dies at his home in the Dutch town of Vlodrop.
- 2009: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg undergoes surgery for pancreatic cancer.
- 2009: USA Swimming suspends Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps for three months after a photo showing him inhaling from a marijuana pipe goes public.
- 2012: Super Bowl XLVI: The New York Giants beat the New England Patriots, 21-17, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
- 2014: A U.N. human rights committee denounces the Vatican for adopting policies that it says allowed priests to rape and molest tens of thousands of children over decades.
- 2014: CVS Caremark announces it would pull cigarettes and other tobacco products from its stores.
- 2017: Super Bowl LI: The New England Patriots defeat Atlanta Falcons 34-28 at NRG Stadium in Houston.
- 2018: Former sports doctor Larry Nassar receives his third long prison sentence, 40 to 125 years, for molesting young athletes at an elite Michigan gymnastics club.
