Iqbal

MEMORANDUM **

Mohammed Saoib Iqbal, a native and citizen of Pakistan, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeal’s (“BIA”) streamlined affirmance of the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying his application for asylum and withholding of removal. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review an adverse credibility determination for substantial evidence, Al-Harbi v. INS, 242 F.3d 882, 888 (9th Cir.2001), and we grant the petition.

Iqbal testified that he was arrested and beaten by Pakistani police on account of his membership in the Pakistan People’s Party (“PPP”) and his political opinion. The IJ’s adverse credibility finding was inappropriately based on a minor discrepancy between a letter and Iqbal’s testimony concerning the date on which he joined the PPP, see Aguilera-Cota v. INS, 914 F.2d 1375, 1382 (9th Cir.1990), Iqbal’s inability to accurately state how many parliamentary seats were necessary to win the presidential election of 1997, see Singh v. Ashcroft, 301 F.3d 1109, 1113 (9th Cir.2002), and Iqbal’s failure to mention in his declaration that he was cut with a blade during his first arrest, see Lopez-Reyes v. INS, 79 F.3d 908, 911 (9th…