Metry

MEMORANDUM

Maryo Samir Wahba Metry, a native and citizen of Egypt, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) affirmance of the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of his application for withholding of removal. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 , and we grant the petition and remand.

The BIA affirmed the IJ’s finding that Metry did not suffer past persecution. Substantial evidence does not support that finding. We conclude that, when combined with his experiences at school and the death threats received by his family, Metry’s close proximity to multiple religiously motivated murders, which resulted in his extended hospitalization due to a nervous breakdown, compels a finding of past persecution. Mashiri v. Ashcroft, 383 F.3d 1112, 1120 (9th Cir.2004) (“Persecution may be emotional or psychological, as well as physical.”); Cordon-Garcia v. INS, 204 F.3d 985, 991 (9th Cir.2000) (“threats of violence and death are enough” to establish persecution); Duarte de Guinac v. INS, 179 F.3d 1156, 1163 (9th Cir.1999) (petitioner’s “physical and mental abuse ... compels the conclusion that he was a victim of persecution.”). Metry’s youthful age at the time of…