Kamla Prasad Meena Kumari Prasad Catherine Sandhya Prasad Micky Sudesh Prasad Ricky Sumit Prasad v. Immigration & Naturalization Service

47 F.3d 336 Kamla PRASAD; Meena Kumari Prasad; Catherine Sandhya Prasad; Micky Sudesh Prasad; Ricky Sumit Prasad, Petitioners, v. IMMIGRATION & NATURALIZATION SERVICE, Respondent. No. 94-70132. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted Dec. 15, 1994. Decided Feb. 1, 1995. Alan M. Kaufman, San Francisco, CA, for petitioners. David M. McConnell and Karen Ann Hunold, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, DC, for respondent. Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals. Before: WALLACE, Chief Judge, PREGERSON and BEEZER, Circuit Judges. BEEZER, Circuit Judge: 1 Kamla Prasad, Meena Kumari Prasad and their three children, ethnic Indian citizens of Fiji, petition for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ("Board") affirming the Immigration Judge's denial of their application for asylum and withholding of deportation. The Board concluded that the Prasads failed to demonstrate past persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of their race, religion, or political opinion. We have jurisdiction over this timely filed petition pursuant to 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1105a(a). We deny the petition. 2 * Fiji, an island…

Kamla Prasad, Meena Kumari Prasad and their three children, ethnic Indian citizens of Fiji, petition for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“Board”) affirming the Immigration Judge’s denial of their application for asylum and withholding of deportation. The Board concluded that the Prasads failed to demonstrate past perse *338 cution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of their race, religion, or political opinion. We have jurisdiction over this timely filed petition pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1105a(a). We deny the petition.

I

Fiji, an island nation in the South Pacific, is composed of a multiracial society divided evenly in population between ethnic Fijians and ethnic Indians. In 1987, Sitiveni Rabu-ka, an ethnic Fijian military officer, led a coup that overthrew the recently-elected ethnic Indian controlled government. Since 1987, the government of Fiji has been dominated by ethnic Fijians.

Kamla Prasad, who worked in Fiji as a cook and taxi driver, departed Fiji in October of 1987, soon after the coup. His wife and children followed not long after. The Pra-sads initially applied for asylum in Canada, but eventually entered the United States…

dissenting.

I dissent because Prasad established past persecution on account of his political beliefs. He therefore qualifies as a refugee eligible for asylum under 8 U.S.C. § 1101 (a)(42)(A).

As the majority correctly notes, because neither the immigration judge nor the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) challenged Prasad’s credibility, we must accept his testimony as true. Prasad established that he was an active member of the Labour Party which represents the interests of ethnic Indians on Fiji. Among the hostilities Prasad describes which ensued after the 1987 coup, one incident, in particular, supports Prasad’s claim that he has been persecuted. In September 1987, Prasad was arrested while driving his truck in his village. Eight to ten Native Fijians stopped him at a roadblock. At least two were in army uniforms. The Fijians ordered him out of his truck at gunpoint, punched him in the stomach, and kicked him in the back. They then loaded Prasad into another truck and took him to the police station. At the police station, his captors accused him of being a Labour Party member. They interrogated him about his support for the Labour Party and his work distributing pamphlets.…