Nune Mamouzian v. John Ashcroft, Attorney General

Nune Mamouzian, a native and citizen of Armenia, petitions for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”). The BIA affirmed without opin ion the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of her applications for political asylum, withholding of deportation, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction over her petition for review pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We conclude that the IJ erred in determining that Mamouzian has not established a well-founded fear of future persecution on account of political opinion. Therefore, we grant Mamouzian’s petition for review and remand.

I.

Mamouzian testified to the following at her asylum hearing before the IJ: She worked as an electrical engineer for a state-owned factory from 1989 through the fall of 1995. In September of 1995, the director of the factory, a member of the ruling “HeHeShe” party, asked Mamouzi-an to help sell the factory’s machinery to governments in Iran, Libya, and North Korea. After assisting in a couple of transactions over the course of three months, she told the factory director that she opposed the dismantling of the factory despite the profits such sales would bring…